Professor Rick Cupp, "How Might Corporations' and Nonhuman Animals' Personhood Compare Under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments" -- American Medical Association Journal of Ethics

Professor Richard L. Cupp's article, "How Might Corporations' and Nonhuman Animals' Personhood Compare Under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments," (SSRN) is published in the peer-reviewed American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Amer. Med'l Assn. Journal of Ethics, Volume 26, No. 9, Sept. 2024, E690.  The article considers whether constitutional equal protection of the laws should apply to some nonhuman animals in light of corporations having gained such protection.

Professor Cupp is an animal welfare advocate who writes and speaks extensively about the legal and moral status of animals. He has advised many organizations regarding law and animals, including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science, Technology and Law, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Neuroscience, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the National Association for Biomedical Research, the Animal Health Institute, and the American Animal Hospital Association.

Abstract of "How Might Corporations' and Nonhuman Animals' Personhood Compare Under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments"

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits states from depriving any person "equal protection of the laws," and the Constitution's Fifth Amendment has been interpreted as applying this prohibition to the federal government. This article considers whether constitutional equal protection should apply to some nonhuman animals in light of corporations having gained such protection and concludes that expanding equal protection personhood to nonhuman animals is improbable in the present legal landscape.