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Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 11:13:24 PM EST
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The House of Representatives today passed a bill on a voice vote to send the Terry Schiavo case to federal court:

Under the House legislation, a federal judge would decide whether withholding or withdrawing food, fluids or medical treatment from an incapacitated person violates the Constitution or U.S. law. It would apply only to incapacitated people who had not left directives dealing with being kept alive artificially and for whom a state judge had authorized the withholding of food or medical treatment.

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    Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 12:40:15 AM EST
    isn't that the thing the naiz, did during or before world war two? I mean legalizing mass murder for the state? some about laws to kill millions in old hitlers world? hey people today the insane and the hopeless, guess whos next? maybe me and maybe you and your Family? but it is a plan that is normal in an insane government.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:51:00 AM EST
    The congress likes to rally around these "Right to life" issues. It hase nothing to do with a real concern for "life" issues. It's more about keeping the base happy

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:55:40 AM EST
    They also are showing their contempt for the rule of law. They want their way whether they really want it or not. They are behaving like a spoiled children

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:57:20 AM EST
    Doesn't this have to go to the senate then the president.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#5)
    by nolo on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 07:33:34 AM EST
    ED, they're behaving worse than spoiled children. The NYT ran an article today about the trial judge in the Schiavo case. The guy's been inundated with death threats, and has to travel with a police escort.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 08:01:25 AM EST
    I was kind of looking forward to the Fla. governor's office and legislature spending untold amounts of that state's taxpayer money for years to come, endlessly wasting Fla's public resources, over ONE case, to make a point. But now the US legislature is jumping in??? Never mind the business of the other 299,999,999 people in the country. Let's just stop the damn planet from spinning for the benefit of the Schiavo litigation. Obscene squandering of resources.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:17:34 AM EST
    Congress's hypocrisy is appalling. They claim they're for "states' rights," and indeed, when they don't like a ruling they get, or think they might get, from a Federal court, they propose "court stripping" laws to send future cases to state courts. (e.g., Ten Commandments, "under God," etc.) I don't agree with that, but at least it's consistent with states' rights. But when they don't like a state court's ruling, they pass a bill like this one or the recent class-action "reform," sending those cases to Federal court. I never liked jurisdiction shopping, but that's exactly what Congress is doing these days. And because they don't like the choices the American people have been making, they've decided to do all our shopping for us.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:18:54 AM EST
    Nolo I think they should round up all those people who threatened the Judge and prosecute them as adults! After all this is Florida the Death penalty (who cares about life) State.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:21:59 AM EST
    government mass murder being setup.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:39:04 AM EST
    Federalize everything! Local control is for wimps.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 02:01:04 PM EST
    After all this is Florida the Death penalty (who cares about life) State.
    hey, that's TEXAS' claim, we've murdered way more criminals than FL.
    ...DOJ’s legal opinion on the matter...
    surely you jest. btw: how do you know we have not read their opinion? did Gonzalez sign it? his MO is well known, loyality trumps law. stop apologizing for criminal behavior. just trolling huh?

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 02:31:53 PM EST
    Right on, Mathwiz. Hypocritical Republinannies at it again. (No, I did not check to see who introduced the bill. I'm just taking a wild shot in the dark the bill came from the right.)

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#13)
    by john horse on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 02:39:59 PM EST
    Three articles/op eds that I recommend about this case. One of the best sources for debunking some of the lies told about the Terri Schiavo case is from majikthise. Recently Michael Schiavo gave an interview to the St Pete Times. Finally, in my local paper there is this op/ed by FSU law professor Lois Shepherd about how the Florida Legislature plans to intrude on the our and our loved ones' end-of-life preferences. As Dr. Shepherd points out "hard cases make bad law."

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#14)
    by cp on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 03:00:15 PM EST
    hmmmmm, how many people do you suppose this particular piece of ledgerdarmain might actually apply to? i can only think of one: ms. schiavo. this is pretty much what the fl legislature already did, at gov. bush's behest, and it was summarily tossed out as an unconstitutional overstepping of powers. might the same happen here? i truly feel for this woman, and wish her only the best. i wonder how she would feel, to know that she was being used as an unwitting pawn in someone's political game?

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#15)
    by Sailor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:46:06 PM EST
    bump and update "The U.S. Congress made a last-ditch effort to keep Terri Schiavo alive, passing measures that call for the federal courts to prevent the removal of feeding tubes from the brain-damaged woman in Florida. President George W. Bush applauded the move, saying the courts should rule ``in favor of life.''" Of course when asked about Carla Fay Tucker he killed her with a joke and without mercy. The RW keep making the point that they are going to starve her to death. Do you know why that is the only recourse? Because the DEA would go after any Dr that would ease her pain. The poor women has a liquid center, let her die in relative peace. Oh, by the way, RULE OF LAW, RULE OF LAW! Oh, and STATES RIGHTS, STATES RIGHTS!

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#16)
    by Patrick on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 04:03:27 PM EST
    sailor, Really? The DEA would "go after" any Dr that eased her pain? For what violation? By "eased her pain" do you mean euthanized her? If that's the case, why would the DEA go after the Dr? I think you know not from where you speak.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#17)
    by Sailor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 06:43:52 PM EST
    Pat, I have the best info possible. I watched my dad die very slowly after months of agony with the hospital denying him levels of anagelsic pain relief because they were afraid that the dea would prosecute them. I WILL NOT provide a link to those documents. Tho I doubt your sincerity, I will provide link to similar events: here . And if you don't like that link, I, and a thousand others, will provide you more. I can't wait until you, or a loved one, are struck with a fatal, debilitating, degenerative disease and have to suffer for years. Maybe your/their life sentance WOP, will change your mind.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 12:32:36 PM EST
    What is wrong with this government. How dare they interfere in a personal family matter. I can see thru these people and their agenda.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 06:33:56 PM EST
    This demonstrates the folly of the past 30 years of the Rehnquist court emasculating the federal courts of their congressionally mandated jurisdiction to hear civil rights matters and federal constitutional questions, since Younger v. Harris. It was clearly decided in 1871 and recodified again in 1948 that the federal courts were to be the guarantors of constitutional rights and no one would be deprived of a federal forum on a Section 1983 civil rights complaint protecting their 14th amendment equal protection rights, under 28 USC 1341. Rehnquist and his later brothers gradually chipped away at federal jurisdiction in civil rights cases until every case involving a state interest had to go back to state court, defying the mandate that Congress had given them by judge made laws that remain in effect today. The states can do whatever they want and get away with it and the federal courts "abstain" from interfering, and they would like you to think they have no other choice, blaming it on Congress, but the truth is the reverse. What Congress SHOULD do is not just speak on the matter of the Schiavo case alone but should reassert its authority over the Supreme Court in all such cases and restore civil rights litigation to its proper place in federal court with justices that care about the Constitution and are taught to respect it, rather than some state court judge that thinks the Supreme Court is some distant and irrelevant forum. This situation right now is repeating the same situation after the Civil War when Congress set up federal jurisdiction over constitutional issues because the states were unable to restore order in state courts, and without federal oversight the same situation recapitulates today.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 06:37:01 AM EST
    The democrat party has become the party of death. Democrats want to kill you in the womb, partially out of the womb or in your hospice bed. How pathethic.

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 11:16:48 AM EST
    If you are homeless and are starving is that suicide? If no one will feed you is that murder? Just curious. If a homeless person were in the same position as Terri would they get the same medical treatment? Because I would assume that they too have the same right to life as Terri, so who would pay for that, to keep a homeless brain dead person alive? Or would a homeless person never get that far, never have had the quality of treatment that Terri received right after her stroke that kept her alive to live in this vegetative state? Does medicaid or medicare pay for it? Who will George Bush keep alive and who will he let die? Can someone who works in a hospital tell me what happens when a homeless person comes through in a condition like Terri's. How far would they get?

    Re: Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court (none / 0) (#22)
    by Emily on Fri Mar 25, 2005 at 07:33:13 AM EST
    Why would we punish a man who is murder if they are killing a woman who is not on life support who are they to say if we can live or die!!! I may be young but i know what i am talking about.............

    Terry Schiavo Case to Move to Federal Court | 22 comments (22 topical)