Court Rules Kapparos Can Continue in New York
from VIN News by Sandy Eller:
Live kaparos will be continuing in New York City, at least for now, as a Manhattan Appellate court affirmed a lower court’s decision that refused to ban the practice because of claims that it is cruel and unsanitary.
As previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2ryYBWo), Supreme Court Justice Debra James ruled in 2015 that the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaparos did not present proof that the ritual was inhumane or a public nuisance.
While that earlier decision did not acknowledge that kaporos was constitutionally protected as a religious ritual, today’s 3-2 ruling upheld the practice on religious grounds. According to the New York Post (http://nydn.us/2rz3mPJ), Judge Judith Gische wrote a majority opinion that said animal sacrifice is recognized by the United States Supreme Court “as a religious sacrament.”
Judge Gische also wrote that the plaintiffs appeared to be more interested in securing a particular outcome than in enforcing the law.
Writing for the minority, Judge Ellen Gesmer called on authorities to further investigate the matter to see if any violations were taking place in the way the chickens are handled both during, and in the days leading up to, kaparos.
The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaparos vowed to continue the legal battle, noting that the fact that two out of five justices in the Appellate court disagreed with the ruling opened the door to escalating the case to the New York State Court of Appeals.
“The battle continues,” read a post on the group’s Facebook page. “Stay tuned.”
Milhouse
While that earlier decision did not acknowledge that kaporos was constitutionally protected as a religious ritual, today’s 3-2 ruling upheld the practice on religious grounds.
Not true. The grounds were simply that it’s up to the city to decide how to enforce the law, and there are many considerations it may take into account. Let’s be very clear: the court absolutely did not say that the law is with us, or that the city can’t enforce the law against us if it chooses to do so. What it said was that the city has the discretion to waive enforcement, whether out of respect for our religion or for many other reasons, and the courts don’t have the authority to tell the city how to make that decision.
Whether kaporos is actually protected from city action was not discussed in the ruling.
DeClasse' Intellectual
Maybe we ought to sue these groups for superflous legal expenses especially since the Supreme ?Cpurt has allready ruled as mentioned in article
Milhouse
Nope. First of all the supreme court decision isn’t directly relevant. If the city wanted to enforce its laws against the kapores operations it would almost certainly be upheld. This case was about whether a court can order the city to enforce its laws when it doesn’t want to.
In any case any time you get a 4-3 decision you can hardly claim the suit was frivolous.
Moishe pipek
Bak bak, bak, bak, ku koo rico(Free the chickens)
CMd2
I’d like to tell that woman in the picture a few things;
first of all,
go pick on MacDonalds and all the big fast food restarunts.
#2: you look so proud of yourself. Are you sure that you’re really accomplishing something, or do you need a sense of purpose.
#3. Get a life. go pick on those fast food chains, see how they treat their animals.