The Nonhuman Rights Project wants a decision that holds chimpanzees at the DeYoung Family Zoo have habeas corpus rights against imprisonment without a court hearing.
The group, based in Washington DC, argues that the chimpanzees deserve common law protections because of their intelligence and genetic similarity to humans.
The organization has filed similar lawsuits on behalf of chimpanzees and elephants kept in zoos in other states.
The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a lower court in an October decision that non-human species are not entitled to constitutional protections. The Supreme Court does not have to hear the case.
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