In January, six justices of the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously ruled that five elderly African elephants were not people.
That may not sound like an issue that needs six justices to resolve, but courts around the country have found themselves handling such questions.
The Colorado Supreme Court did not hear from the elephants directly. They heard from the Nonhuman Rights Project, which filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of the pachyderms, arguing that their confinement in a Colorado Springs zoo violated their right to bodily liberty.
