Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Policy Watch
  • Published:

Federal court dismisses challenge to Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Lab Animal volume 42, pages 197–198 (2013)Cite this article

On 18 March 2013, the Massachusetts Federal District Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by five animal rights activists challenging the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA)1,2. The court found the activists did not have standing to challenge the law because the activities for which they allegedly feared prosecution—protesting, public speaking and letter-writing—were not prohibited by the AETA.

This case is of particular interest to the scientific research community because the AETA is the only federal law protecting individuals involved in research from harassment, intimidation and other illegal actions committed by animal rights extremists. In fact, the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR), joined by eleven other organizations, filed an amicus brief on 12 March 2012 urging dismissal of the case3.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Blum et al. v. Holder, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2013 WL 1097818 (Civ. A. No. 11-12229-JLT) (D. Mass. March 18, 2013).

  2. 18 U.S.C. § 43 (2006).

  3. Brief for the National Association for Biomedical Research, et al. as Amicus Curiae Supporting Defendant, Blum et al. v. Holder, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2013 WL 1097818 (Civ. A. No. 11-12229-JLT) (D. Mass. March 18, 2013).

  4. United States v. Fullmer, 584 F.3d 132 (3d Cir. 2009).

  5. United States v. Buddenberg, No. CR-09-00263, 2009 WL 3485937 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 28, 2009).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Association for Biomedical Research, Washington, DC

    Andrew D. Cardon, Matthew R. Bailey & B. Taylor Bennett

Authors
  1. Andrew D. Cardon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthew R. Bailey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. B. Taylor Bennett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cardon, A., Bailey, M. & Bennett, B. Federal court dismisses challenge to Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Lab Anim 42, 197–198 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.302

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.302

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing