Man Takes Monkeys All the Way to the Supreme Court

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Among the many civic wars waged by a former Marine boxer, Ron James, the next legal battle will be his most challenging, and quixotic.


At stake, in a case submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, are the lives of George, Ellen, Gerald, Mrs. Lee, Delilah, Louie, Sydney, and Boo-Boo.


They are eight Capuchin monkeys that Mr. James, 65, has raised under federal license in a cluttered two-bedroom apartment along a crowded side street in the Bronx.


They are also eight close friends Mr. James worries about losing to increasingly strict state laws that ban exotic pets – or “companion animals,” as Mr. James insists the monkeys be called.


Over the past two-and-a-half years, Mr. James, who is not an attorney, has represented himself in federal court in cases against New York State legislators, who moved to pass the ban on exotic animals. His many constitutional claims, fashioned into legalese by his friend Richard Dean Sawyer III, a Vietnam veteran and part-time Home Depot worker who also has no law degree, have been quickly dismissed. Appeals have met a similar fate.


Now Mr. James, who changed his surname from Sorenson to be a singer and entertainer, is banking on the final appeal of his case. His case, No. 580 on the high court’s docket, is one of the estimated 80,000 cases the Supreme Court receives every year. Out of that hefty lot, the nine justices hear an average of 80 cases a year, according to a court spokesman, Ed Turner. Those numbers suggest Mr. James’s chances of getting his case heard are one in a thousand. Long odds, but a gamble Mr. James is taking.


“Can you believe it? I can’t believe it,” he said. “The highest court in the land picks a schmuck like me. A guy with no education, no money, who can’t write, can’t see, deaf, crippled.” He listed his handicaps on nearly all his fingers.


It’s unlikely his case will be heard at all. If it is, there could be a long wait for a decision. Mr. James can wait, he said. He’s used to long wars.


Never spotted in public without a pair of Korean war-era dog-tags around his neck, with camouflage pants and jacket, Mr. James walked more than 440 miles to show his support for passing a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from protesters who would burn it.


Another of his issues is pushing a state law of his own creation, the Universal Veterans Identification Bill, which mandates that motor vehicle departments recognize veteran identification cards as one possible form of identification to obtain driver’s licenses. Mr. James said the measure could be of importance to many of the state’s 1.25 million veterans.


His most recent cause, protecting the right of private citizens to raise in their homes exotic “companion animals” such as Capuchin monkeys, has proved unpopular, especially among state legislators. One problem is a spate of sensational news stories of late about exotic animals. A large spotted cat attacked a child in a public park near Albany. A veterinarian’s assistant at Washington Heights was found to be raising six Capuchin monkeys and a tarantula as well as two dogs, two cats, and fish, and a Harlem man was found with a 400-pound tiger and alligator in his apartment in a public-housing complex. Animal rights groups and state legislators have moved to strengthen, not relax, laws against improperly harboring or peddling exotic animals. (A Capuchin monkey is worth $5,000 to $7,000, Mr. James said.)


On November 3, Governor Pataki signed into law a measure that forbids private citizens, other than those who have a federal exhibitor’s license, to keep wild animals as pets. The bill also requires owners of exotic animals to pay $80 in state fees, which are to support the cost of regular inspections.


Mr. James’s position is that the new state fees unfairly tax a class of people, according to his unorthodox petition to the Supreme Court, constituting a form of “cruel and unusual punishment.” He also argues that his federal license for the animals should protect him from a provision of the city health code that bans exotic animals, such as venomous snakes, ferrets, and, yes, Capuchins.


But what Mr. James’s opponents, and the sponsors of the state bill, have argued is that Mr. James is not facing the threat of having his monkeys seized. Bethany Schumann, a legislative assistant to the sponsor of the state bill, Assemblyman Paul Tonko, Democrat of Schenectady, said grandfather clauses allow Mr. James to keep his pets, but not to take on any others without a license. Mrs. Schumann also questioned the legal merits of Mr. James’s case, which was filed well before her boss’s bill was passed into law.


The federal courts likewise have been dubious of Mr. James’s legal rationale, claiming he was simply asking judges to declare a state law unconstitutional – though he’d suffer no adverse consequences from that law.


Mr. James disagrees. Despite the grandfather clauses, he said he suffers “a constant fear” that police officers will seize his pets. His clinical case of anxiety requires him to visit a veterans hospital for psychological treatment most days, he said. His fear, he said, is tantamount to criminal punishment. “Some nights I feel like Superman in a cop hat is gonna come crashing through my window to take them,” he said of the monkeys.


As for the legal argument that he should not have filed suit questioning the legality of a bill before it became law, Mr. James said his right to protect his private property, the Capuchins, should be protected by the Constitution, no matter what state legislators say, and no matter how much the monkeys smell.


“The laws are made to punish people,” he said. “You got to get into court before they get you. You can’t take any chances.”


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use