Sunstein's nomination raises concerns in animal ag |
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| Written by Love My Equines, on 15-05-2009 05:27 |
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President Obama’s nominee for administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is a legal scholar whose writings on hunting and animal welfare have raised concern among those in livestock agriculture. Professor Cass Sunstein teaches at Harvard Law School and as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School. At his hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Tuesday, Sunstein responded to a question by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine about a primer he wrote at Chicago suggesting animals should have more rights in the court system, “The question would be what does, for example, the Endangered Species Act say or what does the Animal Welfare Act say? Not, what does a law review article say? So, I would follow the law.” Sunstein says that writing was a suggestion about state anti-animal cruelty law, “It might be that the enforcement by criminal prosecutors could be supplemented by suits by private people protecting animals from violations of existing state law - very much like under the Endangered Species Act where people, rather than elephants, initiate lawsuits.”
Sunstein says that suggestion would play no part in his role as OIRA administrator, “It would not be legitimate for the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to be playing any role in a federal system in rethinking state anti-cruelty law.”
As for his writings on hunting that suggest it should be outlawed, Collins asked Sunstein for his assurance that his personal views would play no role in taking away hunting and fishing rights that are so much a part of her state and other states’ heritage. Sunstein gave Collins his assurance, “The law is authoritative, first. Second, I’m a strong believer in the second amendment to the United States Constitution. I’m on record as saying the second amendment protects the right to hunt. That reflects my own personal view.”
The comment Collins quoted, Sunstein says, was an offhand remark in a speech on another topic,
“Hunters are among the strongest evironmentalists and conservationists in the United States and it would be preposterous for anyone in a position like mine to take steps to affect their rights or their interests.”
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Budget & Administration reviews agency draft regulations before published to ensure agencies are consistent with the law and the president’s priorities.
~by Julie Harker~
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