People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee of the University of Oregon

Appellant, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), is a non-profit animal protection organization with an Oregon membership of about 3,000. Respondents are the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a committee of the University of Oregon created pursuant to federal law, and the university. The committee reviews all proposals for use of vertebrate animals for research at the university. In September, 1988, in order to determine whether they complied with university assurances to the federal government,1 it reviewed a professor’s grant proposals to study the auditory system…