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DeLay Raises Possibility of Trying to Impeach Some Judges in Schiavo Case
AP ^ | 3/31/05 | Jesse J. Holland

Posted on 03/31/2005 3:11:22 PM PST by Crackingham

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Thursday blamed Terri Schiavo's death on what he contended was a failed legal system and he raised the possibility of trying to impeach some of the federal judges in the case. "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," said DeLay, R-Texas.

But a leading Democratic senator said DeLay's comments were "irresponsible and reprehensible." Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said DeLay should make sure that people know he is not advocating violence against judges.

DeLay, the second-ranking House GOP lawmaker, helped lead congressional efforts 10 days ago to enact legislation designed to prod the federal courts into ordering the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube. He said the courts' refusal to do just that was a "perfect example of an out of control judiciary."

Asked about the possibility of the House's bringing impeachment charges against judges in the Schiavo case, DeLay said, "There's plenty of time to look into that."

President Bush expressed sympathy to Schiavo's parents.

"I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to join DeLay in criticizing the courts. "We would have preferred a different decision from the courts ... but ultimately we have to follow our laws and abide by the courts," McClellan said.

Joining DeLay in taking issue with the judiciary was Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who said, "The actions on the part of the Florida court and the U.S. Supreme Court are unconscionable." Also, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina said the case "saw a state judge completely ignore a congressional committees subpoena and insult its intent" and "a federal court not only reject, but deride the very law that Congress passed."

DeLay said he would make sure that the GOP-controlled House "will look at an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: allterriallthetime; anotherterrithread; delay; delaypulledtheplug; goodmoreterrithread; terri; terrisciavo; ushouse; yeskeepthemcoming
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To: Soul Seeker
I like the religious right. They're tough, and they don't owe the GOP a doggone thing. They stood by President Bush through thick and thin, through Arnold and Spectre. They voted for President Bush, helped ensure his victory. President Bush should never do what he doesn't believe in, no matter what segments of his constituents ask of him.

But the religious right, just like the moderates can lobby him. He can refuse or accept depending on his convictions, and he can take the ensuing consequences. Nothing more, nothing less.

I will keep voting Republican because I have no other choice at the moment. But they are not able to deliver a judiciary that can extricate us from the current judicial circumstances. It's the judges, stupid was never a convincing argument. Nixon gave us Blackmun, Reagan gave us O'Connor, Bush I gave us Souter, it's a crap shoot, at best.

We need a few more men like the Founding Fathers, plain and simple. If a third party ever produces such, they won't be able to handle the 'influx.'

221 posted on 03/31/2005 5:32:15 PM PST by AlbionGirl
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To: Recovering_Democrat
Look, the best thing we can do is to MAKE THE SENATE do their job: put judges who respect the Constitution on the bench.

I don't think so, it has become quite clear to me that several remedies are necessary, the first being changing the law regarding life time appointments. It leads to an aristocracy and judicial hubris on both sides of the ball.

The second thing I would suggest is an amendment to the Constitution allowing two thirds of a vote of Congress to overrule the SCOTUS.

Nothing I suggested makes the judges susceptible to political pressure, they just get term limited and are subject to veto power.

222 posted on 03/31/2005 5:33:39 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: Poohbah

The Republican Party to which I have been a long-time loyalist has become a wholly owned subsidiary of crazies on the extreme right, the fanatical, & frenzied religious nuts who share that end of the political spectrum.


223 posted on 03/31/2005 5:34:53 PM PST by middie
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To: sinkspur

DeLay making a fool of himself. Deep thoughts by sinkspur.


224 posted on 03/31/2005 5:36:11 PM PST by Clint Lippo
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To: streetpreacher

I don't know about DeLay - I assumed he was not pro-"choice," but I may be wrong.

I know that Rice is not anti-death, but then, neither is Cheney - however, he has toed the line and doesn't go into this. If DeLay is anti-abortion and Rice is mildly abortion-tolerant but doesn't agressively support it, I think we'd have essentially the same situation we have now.


225 posted on 03/31/2005 5:36:53 PM PST by livius
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To: newzjunkey
There is no more important issue. Give em hell Tom. Hang the politics.
226 posted on 03/31/2005 5:36:58 PM PST by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668)
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To: planekT

http://www.libertytothecaptives.net/scientology_vs_terri_schindler_schiavo.html

"The Church" of Scientology believes that people who cannot be raised to a certain level of ability should not mingle with society. Terri Schiavo's forced confinement to her hospice room reflects this mentality. (See: Scientology Doctrine: Michael Schiavo Removed Terri From Society.)

Furthermore, Scientologists believe that people who cannot be raised above a 2.0 level on L. Ron Hubbard's tone scale have an urge to die:

Society, the bulk of which is bent upon survival, fails or refuses to recognize death or the urge of organisms toward it. Society passes laws against murder and suicide. Society provides hospitals. Society carries such people [the disabled] on its back. And society will not hear of euthanasia or "mercy killing." (Self Analysis by L. Ron Hubbard; pg. 28)

According to Judge Greer's November 22, 2002 order to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding and hydration tube, Terri must substantially improve or be permitted no improvement at all; indeed, no life at all. She must win (substantially improve) or lose everything (be dehydrated to death). Judge Greer made no allowance for a small or moderate improvement.

2nd Appeals Court Judge Altenbernd agreed that Terri Schiavo's options are a miracle or death:

…the difficult question that faced the trial court [Judge Greer in 2000] was whether Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo, not after a few weeks in a coma, but after 10 years in a persistent vegetative state that has robbed her of most of her cerebrum and all but the most instinctive of neurological functions, with no hope of a medical cure but with sufficient money and strength of body to live indefinitely, would choose to continue the constant nursing care and the supporting tubes in hopes that a miracle would somehow recreate her missing brain tissue, or whether she would wish to permit a natural death process to take its course and for her family and loved ones to be free to continue their lives. (Quote source: Fight-for-life bombshell: Woman 'trying to talk'!--World Net Daily) [bold emphasis added]

This is exactly the way Scientology would have it L. Ron Hubbard wrote about organisms (people) needing to win. If they do not win, he believed they would move in the direction of loss [death]:

The goal is to win. When one has lost too much and too many times, the possibility of winning seems to remote to try. And it loses. It becomes so accustomed to loss that it begins to concentrate on loss instead of forward advance.

(Self Analysis by L. Ron Hubbard pg. 41)

Scientology, which has an integral role in the New World Order network, believes that able producers should not mix with the disabled (which they classify as nonproducers.) They believe that contrasurvival entities (disabled and terminally ill people) should be destroyed:

An individual, family, a group best survives, of course, when prosurvival entities are in proximity and available and when contrasurvival entities are absent. The struggle of life could be said to be the procurement of prosurvival factors and the annihilation, destruction, banishment of contrasurvival factors.

(Self Analysis by L. Ron Hubbard pgs. 176-177)

Michael Schiavo and Judge Greer have been pursuing the "banish, destroy and annihilate the contrasurvival people" Scientology ideology for many years.

Michael has banished Terri from society by forcing her to live in solitary confinement in a hospice room for five years.

Judge Greer has ordered Terri's destruction on at least two occasions.

and he has agreed to allow Michael Schiavo to annihilate her remains by immediate cremation.



Scientology Goal: Deny the Disabled Civil Rights; Mass Euthanasia Will Follow

Scientology considers brain-damaged individuals such as Terri to be aberrations or mentally defective. Scientology considers such "defective" people as being unworthy of the full benefits of citizenship:

"Perhaps at some distant date only the unaberrated person will be granted civil rights before law. Perhaps the goal will be reached at some future time when only the unaberrated person can attain to and benefit from citizenship. These are desirable goals..." Dianetics; the Modern Science of Mental Health, by L. Ron Hubbard (1987 edition, p.534)

The dehydration death of Terri Schiavo is Hubbard's Hurrah. This is not only because Judge Greer and others have marked this case so obviously for Scientology, but also because those who live in Clearwater, Florida—Scientology's spiritual headquarters—are too intimidated to speak up and reveal that Terri Schiavo is being used to further two of Scientology's major goals in the New World Order network— the denial of civil rights for the disabled and the result: mass euthanasia.

Please speak up or tell us what you know and we will speak for you. Terri is running out of time. May God intervene through you.

Gary and Lisa Ruby

02/23/05


227 posted on 03/31/2005 5:37:23 PM PST by Fred Nerks (Understand Evil: Read THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD. Link on my Page. free pdf.)
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To: Fred Nerks
Would you care to extend your comment to explain to an aussie why you sound so certain of that?

The majority of Republicans felt they were burned by passing federal legislation to give the de novo review. The American people, in every poll taken since the vote, opposed it.

I doubt DeLay has more than 100 votes in the GOP House for going after these judges. Without the votes, it's not going to happen.

That's to say nothing of the Senate, where any impeachments would be dead on arrival.

228 posted on 03/31/2005 5:38:08 PM PST by sinkspur (I'm in the WPPFF)
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To: northernlightsII

That would be a good start. The liberal viewpoint is that there is no right and wrong. Everything is open to interpretation-theirs.


229 posted on 03/31/2005 5:39:42 PM PST by westmichman (Pray for global warming. Friend of Ronnie -(stolen from The Patriot))
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To: sinkspur

Yeah, Newt would be a good choice also.


230 posted on 03/31/2005 5:40:39 PM PST by westmichman (Pray for global warming. Friend of Ronnie -(stolen from The Patriot))
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To: Cboldt
"If you haven't read it, how the devil do you justify asserting what it contains?

If you read my posting you would see it was not I who asserted what I wrote. I said I was listening to Rush and learned.

"I was listening to Rush this morning and learned" that one of the things the congress changed in order to get their bill through was to change the wording."

According to my dictionary SHALL is the same as SHOULD, meaning "OUGHT TO"

So now read it as

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida shall OUGHT TO have jurisdiction to hear, determine, and render judgment on a suit or claim by or on behalf of Theresa Marie Schiavo for the alleged violation of any right of Theresa Marie Schiavo under the Constitution or laws of the United States relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life.

B>SEC. 2. PROCEDURE.

Any parent of Theresa Marie Schiavo shall OUGHT TO have standing to bring a suit under this Act.................................... In such a suit, the District Court shall OUGHT TO determine de novo FROM THE BEGINNING any claim of a violation of any right of Theresa Marie Schiavo within the scope of this Act, notwithstanding any prior State court determination and regardless of whether such a claim has previously been raised, considered, or decided in State court proceedings.

SEC. 3. RELIEF.

After a determination of the merits of a suit brought under this Act, the District Court shall SHOULD issue such declaratory and injunctive relief as may be necessary to protect the rights of Theresa Marie Schiavo under the Constitution and laws of the United States relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life.

The Congress did not say "You Will" or "You Must"

The wording of "Shall" gave them the permission to do so.

Thanks for the link to the whole Congressional Bill.

231 posted on 03/31/2005 5:44:29 PM PST by Spunky ("Everyone has a freedom of choice, but not of consequences.")
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To: westmichman

Actually with judges the concepts of right and wrong:
Right: we decide everything
wrong: Congress makes laws to tell us what to do.


232 posted on 03/31/2005 5:44:59 PM PST by northernlightsII
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To: middie

Another blue state republican heard from that can't believe that Christians are patriots too. I do hereby sentence you to 1 month of reading at "federalist.com"


233 posted on 03/31/2005 5:45:38 PM PST by westmichman (Pray for global warming. Friend of Ronnie -(stolen from The Patriot))
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To: Nick Danger
They will ask why a judge, confronted by a horribly incompetent filing, would not notice that a helpless and innocent human being was dying over this, and blow the whistle on it.

I'm sorry, Nick, but I think the public will ask why the federal judges were involved in the first place. They were, and still are, opposed to federal involvement by the Congress or the Federal Judiciary at all.

But I do have to ask what kind of judge, upon seeing that the lawyers had totally missed the point of the federal review, would say, "Well, I guess she starves then. Nothing I can do."

IOW, you want the judges to make law.

234 posted on 03/31/2005 5:45:59 PM PST by sinkspur (I'm in the WPPFF)
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To: sinkspur

Well, why don't we all just wither up and die? It sounds to me like DeLay has the leadership capacity to stir up a few votes, and maybe even to get Americans to see this whole situation a little more clearly.

In case you don't realize it, that's why the Dems are already out there trying to do a Gingrich on him.


235 posted on 03/31/2005 5:46:31 PM PST by livius
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To: Crackingham
Of course they do. With some exceptions the constitution empowers the congress to tell the courts what they can and can't review. What they must and must not do. In fact any time congress wants it appears to me they can revoke the concept of judicial review, which as we all know was a power grab by the supreme court. There are enough avenues available to congress to reign in the courts. All that is lacking is the will. And perhaps cloture votes in the senate.
236 posted on 03/31/2005 5:47:48 PM PST by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668)
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To: northernlightsII

That pretty much sums it up - except the people are not allowed to pass laws by ballot either! The judges will strike them down.


237 posted on 03/31/2005 5:47:55 PM PST by westmichman (Pray for global warming. Friend of Ronnie -(stolen from The Patriot))
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To: Crackingham

Let's see if he has the balls to go after theese judges.


238 posted on 03/31/2005 5:48:20 PM PST by gathersnomoss
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To: livius

Yes, I was speaking of Condi. That was her self-description. FWIW, I don't think Tom could win the general election. He's simply too brash and the MSM would paint him as an extremist.

I also think he and probably everyone else in any leadership position has shown themselves weak in protecting America's borders, something that's going to blow up in their (and more importantly: "our") faces in the not-too-distant future.


239 posted on 03/31/2005 5:49:00 PM PST by streetpreacher (The fires of hell burn hot and try to destroy me, I run to your will Oh God I know you’ll restore me)
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To: Spunky

SHALL is mandatory language, under the law. The Congressional compromise in the law (cited in one of the Federal Court decisions) was the SHALL regarding an injunction to reinsert the feeding tube or otherwise provide sustenance and hydration. That was watered down to discretionary MAY, but it was assumed that because they were ORDERED to undertake a de novo review, that they would have to preserve the patient, lest the issue become moot. The Federal court prejudged the case without performing the de novo review it was ordered to o.


240 posted on 03/31/2005 5:49:24 PM PST by Cboldt
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