Supreme Court won't hear cockfighting case

Associated Press ^ | 11-15-04 | GINA HOLLAND

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON - No cockfighting in Oklahoma, the Supreme Court says.

The justices turned down an appeal Monday from cockfighting supporters, who have lost at the ballot box and in courts.

Oklahoma voters in 2002 approved a ban on the blood sport, in which knives or cutting barbs are attached to roosters, which usually fight to the death.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld voters' decision earlier this year, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court. Justices rejected it without comment.

Attorney Larry Oliver, in filings at the court, said that the law was so vague that people could be arrested for watching blue jays fight in their back yard.

"All birds fight by nature," he wrote. "This Oklahoma statute was drafted by radical animal rights people who exacted a constitutional overkill in their pursuit to ban everything associated with cockfighting."

When voters approved the anti-cockfighting law, Oklahoma was one of three states that permitted the sport. Louisiana and New Mexico still allow it.

Under the Oklahoma law, participants in cockfights and raising birds for fighting could face up to 10 years in jail and $25,000 fines. Spectators can be charged with misdemeanors.

Sherry Todd, an assistant attorney general in Oklahoma, told justices: "The right to conduct cockfights is not a fundamental right. In fact, the federal government and 48 states have enacted some form of law prohibiting cockfighting."

Todd also said that the law "does not criminalize the enjoyment and/or observation of the natural activities of birds in their natural habitat."

The case is Tally v. Oklahoma, 04-329.

[aomagrat]

GO COCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lurking2Long]

What with all the gays moving to Canada, I bet cockfighting replaces hockey as the national sport!

[festus]

...And in this corner....McGreevy.....