JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — The United States Supreme Court has effectively brought an end to Gov. Jeb Bush's efforts to keep a Florida woman alive by artificial means.
The high court declined, without comment, Jan. 24 to hear Bush's appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision from last year striking down “Terri's Law.” Bush, a Republican and brother of President Bush, rushed the law through the state legislature in 2003 to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube inserted over the objections of her husband, Michael.
Schiavo, whom doctors say has been in a persistent vegetative state since collapsing in 1990, will presumably die if the feeding tube is removed. Her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, dispute that her condition is irreversible and have repeatedly tried, through legal means, to prevent Michael Schiavo from having the tube removed.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling means that the Florida Court's Sept. 23 ruling stands. In the unanimous decision, the court's justices said that “Terri's Law” is unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers between the judicial, legislative and executive branches of the state government.
Schiavo's case has become a favorite cause among many groups that oppose abortion rights and euthanasia. Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, denounced the high court's decision to decline the appeal in his Jan. 24 e-mail newsletter. “When will the Supreme Court learn that life is God-given, whether it be the life of an unborn child or the life of a disabled woman?” he asked.
But in their opinion from last year, the Florida justices said the case before them hinged on a matter of state law, not life-ethics issues. State legislators improperly delegated power to the governor by passing “Terri's Law,” they concluded.
“We recognize the tragic circumstances underlying this case make it difficult to put emotions aside and focus solely on the legal issue presented,” wrote Chief Justice Barbara Pariente, who authored the opinion. “We are not insensitive to the struggle that all members of [Schiavo's] family have endured since she fell unconscious in 1990. However, we are a nation of laws and we must govern our decisions by the rule of law and not by our own emotions.”
The decision means the case will now return to the same state judge who ordered the tube removed in October 2003.