WASHINGTON (ABP) — Congress' extraordinary attempt to keep Terri Schiavo alive has failed, at least temporarily.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore denied an emergency request March 22 from Bob and Mary Schindler, parents of the brain-damaged Florida woman, to reinsert the feeding tube that has been keeping her alive. It was removed March 18, following a Florida state court's order.
Whittemore ruled that Schiavo's “life and liberty interests were adequately protected by the extensive process provided in the state courts.”
The Schindlers had asked Whittemore to overrule a state judge's order and have the tube surgically reinserted into her stomach while Whittemore considered the merits of their case. Shortly after Whittemore's 13-page ruling was released, an attorney for the Schindlers notified the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta of their intention to appeal.
In his decision, Whittemore said the Schindlers had not proved their case that their daughter's civil rights had been violated by repeated rulings in Florida state courts allowing the tube to be removed.
“This court appreciates the gravity of the consequences of denying injunctive relief” to have the tube reinserted, 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.”
The developments are the latest in a 15-year saga that has pitted Schiavo's family members against each other, a majority in Congress against the Florida court system, and religious conservatives against a wide majority of Americans.
In the wee hours of Monday, March 21, Congress passed — and President Bush signed — a highly unusual bill granting federal courts jurisdiction to consider whether Florida courts had violated Schiavo's civil rights by repeatedly ordering her feeding tube removed. End-of-life decisions are normally governed by state laws.
The 41-year-old Schiavo has been in what court-appointed doctors have described as a “persistent vegetative state” since a heart attack 15 years ago caused her significant brain damage. The tube has been keeping her alive. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has said his wife made clear to him before her illness that she would not want to live in such a state. However, she left no written record of her intentions.
A succession of Florida courts have found in Michael Schiavo's favor, bolstered by the opinions of physicians who have said Terri Schiavo cannot be rehabilitated.
The Schindlers, however, maintain their daughter can be rehabilitated and responds to some stimuli, which doctors familiar with the case dispute.
The Schindlers' case has become a favorite cause among many religious conservatives and pro-life groups, who have found physicians to back their claims about Schiavo's alleged brain activity.
According to physicians, Schiavo will die from dehydration and starvation within two weeks of the tube's removal. That deadline created the haste in Washington, where Republican leaders in both chambers postponed the beginning of Congress' traditional two-week-long Easter recess to pass the bill.
President Bush rushed back to Washington from his Texas ranch specifically to sign the legislation. He added his signature less than 30 minutes after the House passed it on a 203-58 vote at 12:42 a.m. The Senate had approved the bill by voice vote just hours before, in a rare Sunday evening session.
Debate over the bill on the House floor the night of March 20-21 was often impassioned.
Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), arguing for the bill, said it was narrowly designed to protect Terri Schiavo's rights. “Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of our innocent citizens and their constitutional rights is why we are all here,” he said.
“The phrase in the 14th Amendment capsulizes [sic] our entire Constitution,” Franks, a Baptist, continued. “It says: 'No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.' It is unconscionable that judges holding responsibility to protect Terri Schiavo's constitutional rights have chosen to abandon those responsibilities, so that now Congress has no honorable alternative but to respond as we are.”
But Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) said that the Florida judges have studied the case much more extensively than Congress, and thus Congress should defer to them. “The state of Florida, through our court system, has acted deliberatively, with justice and with due care,” he said.
“The state of Florida, through our judicial system, has taken testimony from everyone in the family and from everyone who knew Mrs. Schiavo that was capable of giving it. The courts in Florida have received expert testimony from many of the most prominent neurosurgeons and neurologists throughout the entire country,” Wexler continued.
“The court system and the 19 judges in Florida have been unanimous — unanimous — in stating … by a standard of clear and convincing evidence, that it is Mrs. Schiavo's wish that she not be required to continue in a persistent vegetative state.”
Democrats accused Republican leaders of hypocrisy in pushing through a bill that raises serious constitutional separation-of-powers questions and that is at odds with traditional GOP deference to family rights and the autonomy of states.
Over the weekend, an unsigned memorandum was reportedly circulated to Republican lawmakers calling the Schiavo case “a great political issue” for Republicans — particularly as it concerns Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who will be up for re-election in 2006. But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) denounced the memo.
It may not be as politically beneficial for Republicans as the memo's author hoped. An ABC News poll released March 21 showed large majorities of respondents favoring the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube and opposing congressional intervention in the case.
Even among Republicans' core constituencies — conservatives and evangelical Protestants — the poll showed slim majorities favoring the tube's removal. And conservative Republicans opposed the federal government becoming involved in the case by a 57-to-41-percent margin.
And 67 percent of the respondents said they think the officials trying to keep Schiavo alive are doing so more out of political expediency than principle. Only 19 percent took the opposite view.
Nonetheless, in a statement released by the White House press office, Bush couched his support for the bill in terms similar to those he has used to talk about abortion and euthanasia, which he opposes. “In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life,” the statement read. “I will continue to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans, including those with disabilities.”