April 09, 2026 Clinic Inside Pam Bondi’s aggressive push to crack down on animal cruelty crimes
The Animal Welfare Act "is almost exclusively civil enforcement, because otherwise it is a misdemeanor," said Mary Hollingsworth [Animal Law & Policy Clinic Director at Harvard Law School], who previously worked on the civil part of the Envigo investigation during her time at the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Given that puppy mills are a priority, the fact that the civil component hasn't been emphasized — it's a missing piece."
November 03, 2025 Clinic The Runaway Monkeys Upending the Animal-Rights Movement
The Animal Welfare Act almost entirely excludes rats and mice, the most common research animals. It outlines minimal standards for housing, food, and pain management—and is minimally enforced. “Facilities can get consistent warnings and violations, but it’s almost never followed up with any sort of action,” Mary Hollingsworth, a former senior trial attorney at the Department of Justice who now leads Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic, said.
October 08, 2025 Clinic Animal abusers are getting let off the hook. Trump and his Supreme Court are partly to blame.
Mary Hollingsworth, Faculty Director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic and a former Justice Department trial attorney, told Vox what’s most needed to deter violations is stronger fines. For that to happen, the Animal Welfare Act needs to be amended to allow the Justice Department to take violators to federal court, where judges are “much more likely to impose a reasonable fine,” Professor Hollingsworth said.
June 12, 2024 Clinic Here’s why some want Mass. to end use of the most potent rat poisons
“What our petition argues is that poisoning raptors and coyotes and foxes and all of those animals who eat rodents, we believe that that is an unreasonable, adverse effect on the environment,” said Mathews, a former clinical instructor at the Animal Law and Policy Clinic who helped write the petition.