The Ivory Education Institute, a non-profit group that “advocates for a better understanding of the artistic, historic, cultural and practical uses of ivory”, sued the State of California soon after Assembly Bill 96 took effect on January 1.
Five animal welfare groups have joined with the State to defend the lawsuit.
“However well-intentioned its supporters may be, the fact is this ban will do nothing to save elephants in Africa,” said Godfrey Harris, managing director of the Institute. “We cannot stop poaching by penalising Californians for selling an ivory chess set inherited from their grandparents.”
The lawsuit, argued in front of the judge on June 3 by Los Angeles law firm Rogers & Harris, challenges the ivory ban on several grounds.
It claims that only the federal government has authority to regulate trade in ivory and says that the state ban, rendering existing private collections worthless, represents the unconstitutional taking of private property.
The judge set the date for a hearing for presidential election day, November 8.
