Free Republic

WHOSE SIDE? Cass Sunstein's theories on cost-benefit analysis align him more with conservatives, critics say. Cass Sunstein, selected to be Obama's regulatory czar, has labor activists and environmentalists digging into his record. Reporting from Washington -- Harvard Law School professor Cass R. Sunstein, a widely admired intellectual and friend of President Obama, has spent years delving into the obscure issues of regulatory law and behavioral economics. Though he is generally described as left of center, Sunstein's academic interests in regulation have led him to raise questions about the constitutionality of liberal favorites such as workplace safety laws and the Clean...

Making an Ass of the Law Obama's "regulation czar" Professor Cass Sunstein wants animals to be able to sue. Animals can't reason or express themselves, naturally, so the litigation would be handled by human lawyers, acting as ventriloquists on behalf of the animal kingdom. Think Mister Ed the talking horse, crossed with Eliot Spitzer. "Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients' behalf," according to Sunstein. The Harvard legal scholar first proposed the argument in 2002. "This doesn’t look...

The Center for Consumer Freedom says President-Elect Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar” of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein, is a radical animal rights activist.The piece points to a 2002 paper written by Sunstein entitled “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer” as Exhibit A. In this paper, Sunstein argues for the “rights” of animals and placing them on a par with the rights of human beings. He laments that current laws which protect animals from cruelty do not include hunting, medical research, and food animals.

Making an Ass of the Law

The next 8 years will be extremely rough for American hunters and livestock farmers. Cass Sunstein, Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar,” : “[A]nimals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf.” “We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”...

Ut oh: "Achieving social justice should be of greater importance than the purity of free markets. Markets, he argues, are themselves only possible through political guarantees of rights and the rule of law, and they should be subordinate to discussions of justice."

Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar,” Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein, may be the incoming president’s most popular appointment so far. Judging from his resume -- best-selling author, “pre-eminent legal scholar of our time,” and an endorsement from The Wall Street Journal -- we can almost understand why. Almost. Because as we’re telling the media today, there’s one troubling portion of the new Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator’s C.V. that has seems to have flown under everyone’s radar: Cass Sunstein is a radical animal rights activist. Don’t believe us? Sunstein has made no secret of his...

Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar,” Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein, may be the incoming president’s most popular appointment so far. Judging from his resume -- best-selling author, “pre-eminent legal scholar of our time,” and an endorsement from The Wall Street Journal -- we can almost understand why. Almost. Because as we’re telling the media today, there’s one troubling portion of the new Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator’s C.V. that has seems to have flown under everyone’s radar: Cass Sunstein is a radical animal rights activist. Don’t believe us? Sunstein has made no secret of his...

Washington, D.C. (Vocus/PRWEB ) January 15, 2009 -- The nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom said today that Cass Sunstein, the Harvard University Law School professor tapped by President-elect Obama to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has a secret aim to push a radical animal-rights agenda in the White House. Sunstein supports outlawing sport hunting, giving animals the legal right to file lawsuits, and using government regulations to phase out meat consumption. In a 2007 speech at Harvard University, Sunstein argued in favor of entirely "eliminating current practices such as … meat eating." He also proposed: "We ought...