Posted on 11/15/2004 11:21:00 AM PST by 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.
No crossing swords, you hear?
I'm just waiting for somebody involved in this to say, "They can have my cock when they pry it from my cold, dead hands!"
now there's a title that can be easily misunderstood.
en garde!
Remember the first rule of 'fight club'...
You mean the law is finally going to have to be followed here in Oklahoma -- should say SE Oklahoma? It passed by a large margin but the cockfighting interests have had it tied up in Court. Glad those Dems lost!
The first rule of Cockfight Club:
You do not talk about your cock.
The second rule of Cockfight Club:
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR COCK.
And that would be?
Relatives in southern WV have a neighbor with about 100 roosters. When I inquired why so many roosters, I was informed that their neighbor raises them for cockfighting. However, their neighbor must take these roosters to Kentucky for the fights.
What two people do in the privacy of their own bedroom...what's that Chevy...ooohhh...THAT kind of cockfighting...never mind!
GAY MARRIAGE PING.
er, I mean... oops
Oh wait, they're talking about birds, right?
Justice denied for Little Jerry Seinfeld.
I bet "Little Jerry Seinfeld" is happy to hear this!
We're not even in SE Oklahoma. Just a bit south of Norman, on 120th Street there are at least three operations we know of--drive by on a weekend night, and you'll see dozens of cars and pickups parked at a little farm in one place, in another you see the plastic barrels that pass for bird houses, etc. etc.
Good stuff on this thread B! Check out RichInOC's contribution on post 7!
" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"
Third rule of Cockfight Club, a cock goes limp, crows "Stop!", taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule, only two cocks to a fight. Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes. (On the cocks, that is.) Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule, if this is your cock's first night at Cockfight Club, your cock has to fight.
It's always been my policy, to never fight with my cock.
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