Notice of Motion of Catholic Theologians for Leave to File Brief
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COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK In the Matter of a Proceeding under Article 70 of the CPLR App. Div. Case No.: 2020- for a Writ of Habeas Corpus and Order to Show Cause, 02581 THE NONHUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT, INC., on behalf Index No.: 260441/2019 of HAPPY, (Bronx County) Petitioner-Appellant, NOTICE OF MOTION OF CATHOLIC -against- THEOLOGIANS FOR LEAVE TO FILE BRIEF JAMES J. BREHENY, in his official capacity as the AS AMICI CURIAE IN Executive Vice President and General Director of Zoos SUPPORT OF and Aquariums of the Wildlife Conservation Society and PETITIONER- Director of the Bronx Zoo, and WILDLIFE APPELLANT’S CONSERVATION SOCIETY, MOTION FOR PERMISSION TO Respondents-Respondents. APPEAL PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that, upon the annexed affirmation of David M. Lindsey, dated January 29, 2021, and the papers attached thereto, the undersigned will move this Court, on behalf of John Berkman, PhD (University of Toronto), Charles Camosy, PhD (Fordham University), Allison Covey, PhD (Villanova University), Celia Deane-Drummond, PhD (University of Notre Dame, University of Oxford), and Christopher Steck, SJ, PhD (Georgetown University) (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Catholic Theologians”), for an order granting the Catholic Theologians’ motion for leave to file the attached brief as Amici Curiae in support of the Petitioner-Appellant Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. (“NhRP”) in its 1 BY REGULAR MAIL TO: Clerk of the Court of Appeals New York State Court of Appeals 20 Eagle Street Albany, New York 11207 PHILIPS LYTLE LLP Kenneth A. Manning Joanna J. Chen William V. Rossi One Canalside 125 Main Street Buffalo, New York 14203 Tel. (716) 847-8400 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Respondents-Respondents Elizabeth Stein, Esq. 5 Dunhill Road New Hyde Park, New York 11040 Tel. (516) 747-4726 Fax (516) 294-1094 [email protected] Attorney for Petitioner-Appellant 3 COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK In the Matter of a Proceeding under Article 70 of the CPLR App. Div. Case No.: 2020- for a Writ of Habeas Corpus and Order to Show Cause, 02581 THE NONHUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT, INC., on behalf Index No.: 260441/2019 of HAPPY, (Bronx County) Petitioner-Appellant, AFFIRMATION OF DAVID M. LINDSEY IN -against- SUPPORT OF MOTION OF CATHOLIC JAMES J. BREHENY, in his official capacity as the THEOLOGIANS FOR Executive Vice President and General Director of Zoos LEAVE TO FILE BRIEF and Aquariums of the Wildlife Conservation Society and AS AMICI CURIAE IN Director of the Bronx Zoo, and WILDLIFE SUPPORT OF CONSERVATION SOCIETY, PETITIONER- APPELLANT’S MOTION Respondents-Respondents. FOR PERMISSION TO APPEAL I, David M. Lindsey, hereby affirm under penalty of perjury: 1. I am an attorney duly admitted to practice in the courts of the State of New York. I submit this affirmation on behalf of John Berkman, PhD (University of Toronto), Charles Camosy, PhD (Fordham University), Allison Covey, PhD (Villanova University), Celia Deane-Drummond, PhD (University of Notre Dame, University of Oxford), and Christopher Steck, SJ, PhD (Georgetown University) (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Catholic Theologians”), in support of their motion for leave to file the attached brief as Amici Curiae in support of the Petitioner-Appellant Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. (“NhRP”) in its motion for permission to appeal before this Court in the above-captioned 1 proceedings. I am not a party to this proceeding and I do not represent any of the parties to it. Attached hereto as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2, respectively, are the Decision and Order of the Appellate Division, First Department, from which the NhRP seeks to appeal and the Decision and Order of the Supreme Court, Bronx County. 2. The Catholic Theologians are experts in Catholic moral theology, ethics, animal ethics, ecological theology, theology and science, and bioethics. Their proposed brief addresses the issue of whether Happy, the Asian elephant at the center of this case, is justly entitled to be released to a sanctuary, specifically under principles of Catholic theology. 3. The issues in this case are of great public importance. The Catholic Theologians’ proposed brief contains arguments that might otherwise escape this Court’s consideration, and their brief will be of special assistance to this Court. 4. The Catholic Theologians seek to submit their brief as Amici Curiae because of their interest in and history of pushing academic theology, the Catholic Church more broadly, and the cultures in which we live and work to take animals seriously as subjects of moral concern. 5. This is the first brief prepared by the Catholic Theologians on this subject. 2 6. John Berkman is Professor of Moral Theology at Regis College, University of Toronto, and at the Graduate Centre for Theological Studies in the Toronto School of Theology, and a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion. He holds a PhD from Duke University. He previously taught at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology in Berkeley, CA, and was Director of the Division of Moral Theology/Ethics at The Catholic University of America. He has been a visiting professor at Duke Divinity School, a Visiting Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford, and a Visiting Research Scholar at the Aquinas Institute at Blackfriars, Oxford. He is a leading Catholic moral theologian on understanding non-human animals theologically and ethically, and the significance of such understanding for an adequate account of moral theology. Part of his work has been calling for a new theological sub- discipline with regard to this topic, and he has authored more than 20 publications in the area. His recent publications in this area include: “Must We Love Non-Human Animals: A Post-Laudato Si Thomistic Perspective,” New Blackfriars, November 2020; “The Evolution of Moral Wisdom: What some Ethicists Might Learn from Some Evolutionary Anthropologists,” The Evolution of Wisdom: Major and Minor Keys. ed. Agustin Fuentes et al. Notre Dame: Center for Theology, Science, and Human Flourishing, 2019; “Devons- Nous Aimer Les Animaux Non-humains? Une Perspective Thomiste Apres 3 Laudato Si’ Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiatique, No. 480 120.4 (Decembre, 2018), 61-84; “The Story of Max,” Encountering Earth: Thinking Theologically with a More-Than Human-World. ed. Timothy Harvie, et al. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018; “Just Chimpanzees? A Thomistic Perspective on Ethics in a Non-Human Species,” Beastly Morality: Animals as Ethical Agents, ed. Jonathan K. Crane. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015, 195-224; “From Theological Speciesism to a Theological Ethology: Where Catholic Moral Theology Needs to Go,” Journal of Moral Theology 3.2 (2014), 11-34. A copy of John Berkman’s CV is attached hereto as Exhibit 3. 7. Charles (Charlie) Camosy is an Associate Professor of Theology at Fordham University in the Bronx, where he has taught since finishing his PhD in theology at Notre Dame in 2008. His published articles have appeared in the American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Journal of the Catholic Health Association, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News and America magazine. He has a monthly “Purple Catholicism” column with Religion News Service and is the author of five books. Too Expensive to Treat? (Eerdmans) was a 2011 award-winner with the Catholic Media Association, Peter Singer and Christian Ethics (Cambridge) was named a 2012 “best book” with ABC Religion and Ethics, and For Love of Animals (Franciscan) was featured in the New York Times. 4 Beyond the Abortion Wars (Eerdmans), was a 2015 award-winner with the Catholic Media Association. His most recent book, Resisting Throwaway Culture (New City), was published in May of 2019 and won first place from the Catholic Publishers Association as “Resource of the Year.” His next book, currently under peer-review, connects secular medicine and bioethics rejection of fundamental human equality to their rejection theology as a discipline worth engaging. In addition to advising the Faith Outreach office of the Humane Society of the United States, the pro-life commission of the Archdiocese of New York, and the American Solidarity Party, Camosy received the Robert Bryne award from the Fordham Respect Life Club and received the 2018 St. Jerome Award for scholarly excellence from the Catholic Library Association. A copy of Charlie Camosy’s CV is attached hereto as Exhibit 4. 8. Allison Covey is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Ethics Program at Villanova University. She holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, an MA in Theological Studies from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, an MA in Pastoral Studies from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and a BA in English and Speech Communication from Texas A&M University. She was previously a lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and spent over 10 years in pastoral ministry in the Catholic Archdioceses of 5 Galveston-Houston and Toronto. Her workplaces ethology, evolutionary biology, and paleoanthropology in conversation with Catholic Trinitarian theology to explore the relationships between humans, other animals, and the environment. She has contributed research on Christianity and animals to two edited volumes and has presented at more than 20 conferences internationally on the topic of Christian theology, veganism, and animal ethics. A copy of Allison Covey’s CV is attached hereto as Exhibit 5. 9. Celia Deane-Drummond is a senior research fellow and the inaugural director of Laudato Si’ Research Institute at Campion Hall, University of Oxford. She was formerly a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame where she served as the inaugural director of the Center for Theology, Science and Human Flourishing. Her research, writing, and teaching focus on constructive systematic theology informed by Roman Catholic contemporary and historical sources in its relationship with creation and the natural world as understood by the biological and human sciences.