An Unlikely Emergency Appeal to the Supreme Court from a Dog Named Bruce
New York Times · LC · trust 56/100
A last-ditch filing this week came on behalf of a dog that a judge found to be “vicious” and shows how the court’s emergency docket has been growing.
Listen · 6:21 min Share full article The Supreme Court has been inundated recently with emergency requests. Credit... Allison Robbert for The New York Times By Ann E. Marimow
The court has been inundated in recent years with emergency asks from all manner of people and groups who want the justices to short circuit the lower courts and intervene in their cases immediately.
But this week might have seen the first such request on behalf of a dog.
His name was Bruce, and he was a 120-pound, 3-year-old Anatolian Shepherd dog who had been detained in Ventura County, Calif., and ordered to be euthanized after a state court found he was vicious. His crimes included biting three people, including a child, and knocking over a man pushing a wheelchair.
Bruce’s lawyers asked the nation’s highest court to step in and, as a Facebook post created by the dog’s fans in California begged, “SAVE BRUCE!”
“Applicants do not ask this Court to release Bruce, transfer Bruce, place Bruce in the community, or review the merits of the underlying state-court dangerous-dog determination,” his lawyer, Dan C. Bolton, wrote in the Wednesday filing.
“They ask only that Bruce, Animal ID A842188, remain alive in the custody of Ventura County Animal Services,” while litigation continues, according to the filing.
Alas for Bruce, the request to the court came too late. He was euthanized Wednesday afternoon before the justices had an opportunity to act.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Read the original at New York Times →
Open in TruthVane →