Basically my thoughts on this issue dependeed heavily on the information I did not have. This article settled the issue for me. Her parents, and the GOP have no case, the issue, legally speaking is a done deal. But as Josh Micah Marshall pointed out:
having framed the Schiavo case as "murder" and "barbarism" and "medical terrorism," does Tom DeLay now just say, "Well, the family had its day in court," and forget about it? Or will the culture-war implications of the case make it escalate?
Guess you can tell which way I think the wind will blow.
I think I agree... watch this channel for the coming shit storm
Jax
TAMPA, March 22 -- A federal judge refused early Tuesday to order the reinsertion of a brain-damaged woman's feeding tube, turning down a request from her parents after Congress and President Bush transferred jurisdiction in her case from state to federal courts.
Lawyers for the parents of Terri Schiavo promptly moved to appeal the ruling to a higher federal court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. The lawyers filed a notice of appeal to the Atlanta court, which is already considering a separate appeal in the case to determine whether Schiavo's due process rights have been violated. Attorney Rex Sparklin said the new appeal was needed to "save Terri's life," the Associated Press reported.
In a 13-page decision handed down this morning, U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore said he was denying the parents' request for a temporary restraining order that would restore nutrition and hydration to Schiavo. Whittemore, who heard arguments in the case for two hours Monday afternoon, ruled that the parents had failed to prove that their daughter's rights were violated by a state court ruling in favor of her husband, who contends that his wife did not want to be kept alive in what doctors have called a persistent vegetative state.
Whittemore said he was bypassing what may be "substantial issues concerning the constitutionality" of the law that moved the Schiavo case into the federal court system, focusing instead on whether the parents were likely to win their case on the merits -- a key requirement for granting them a temporary restraining order.
"This court appreciates the gravity of the consequences of denying injunctive relief," Whittemore wrote. "Even under these difficult and time constrained circumstances, however, and notwithstanding Congress' expressed interest in the welfare of Theresa Schiavo, this court is constrained to apply the law to the issues before it. As plaintiffs have not established a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, plaintiffs' motion for Temporary Restraining Order must be denied."
He found that Schiavo's "life and liberty interests were adequately protected by the extensive process provided in the state courts." (Link)
# posted by Jacob @ 3/22/2005 12:44:00 p.m.
