Posted on 03/28/2005 8:02:29 AM PST by FR_addict
Florida governor says he doesn't have power from Constitution to intervene
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the man said to be the last hope for Terri Schiavo, says he's powerless to help the brain-injured woman who has been without nourishment for more than nine full days.
"I cannot violate a court order," Bush told CNN following Easter church services. "I don't have powers from the United States Constitution or – for that matter from the Florida Constitution – that would allow me to intervene after a decision has been made."
To Terri's parents, Bush said, "I can't. I'd love to, but I can't."
Speaking to the media for the first time in three days, the governor added, "I'm sad that she's in the situation that she's in. I feel bad for her family. My heart goes out to the Schindlers and, for that matter, to [her husband] Michael," Bush said. "This has not been an easy thing for any, any member of the family. But most particularly for Terri Schiavo."
Meanwhile, protests have continued outside the hospice where Terri is being cared for. With security having been doubled, five people were taken into custody as pastors tried to bring Schiavo Easter communion.
A handful of people in wheelchairs got out of them and shouted, "We're not dead yet!" as they lay in the driveway.
Larry Klayman, founder of the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch, said Bush has the power to grant her clemency, just as he would in a death-row case.
"We're asking the governor for a stay of execution on Easter Sunday, a day of mercy,'' Klayman said. "For Jeb Bush not to act would be a dereliction of his duty to the people of the state of Florida.''
Terri has been the subject of worldwide attention since Florida Judge George Greer ordered her feeding tube removed March 18, and courts have upheld his decision not to have the tube reinserted.
An attorney for Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, painted a grim picture of the situation on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"Terri is declining rapidly," Schindler attorney David Gibbs said. "We believe at this point she has passed where physically she would be able to recover."
But Randall Terry, a pro-life activist speaking for Terri's parents, called Gibbs' description "absolutely untrue."
George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo says Terri's breathing has been regular, and her death does not appear imminent. He told reporters her remains would be cremated and buried in a family plot in Pennsylvania.
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I am not a huge fan of how things were handled by the Florida and Federal exectutive branches --- and I wholly agree that the judiciary has gotten out of control --- but I will point out a few things
"Eisenhower sent troops to Arkansas to uphold the Constitution in '57 when the entire state government was defying the law of the land."
This is correct because Federal government trumps state. Here, there was (according to the stupid federal courts) no federal grant of power for such similar action.
"Jeb and his brother had lots of nice things to say . . but did NOTHING."
Not exactly:
1. GWB pushed through a new federal law. The federal courts --- amazingly --- dropped the ball. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM; but not the fault of the president.
The solution is, of course, appointing judges that will actually know their Constitutional role. GWB is the best hope we have for that.
2. Jeb pushed through several laws and was stymied by a collection of Democrats and a few RINO in the Florida Senate.
Neither could go in -- guns blazing --- without a grant of power. Peter did that 2,000 years ago. It was wrong then, and wrong now.
What one must do now is REMEMBER and fix the faulty Florida laws and judiciary --- and Federal Judges --- that allowed this travesty.
A court cannot order the chief executive to fail to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
Any court "order" that pretends to do so is a nullity.
So it doesn't matter to you that, say, the next two Supreme Court justices are going to be nominated by Bush rather than Kerry? I thank God for it. Bush isn't as conservative as I'd like on some issues, but he's a darn sight more conservative than Kerry.
Conservative politicians are human -- they fail and disappoint us. They'll always view some issues differently from the way we view them. And so we pay them back for that by standing on the sidelines, or voting third party, thus enabling more Democrats to gain office. That's called shooting yourself in the foot.
The way to get more conservatives in office is to work from an ever-more-conservative foundation. And you build that by voting in conservatives, even those you disagree with on some issues, rather than getting miffed and allowing Democrats to increase their power.
I'm wondering if an annulment from the church would be/would have been a better route to take. Would a court recognize it as a disolution of their marriage?
If George Greer walked into the hospice room and pointed a gun at Terri, Jeb Bush would be authorized to use his police powers to stop him, notwithstanding that George Greer had ordered that he had the power and that no one could stop him. This is the same thing; Judge Greer cannot order the governor to stop enforcing the law. He can say after the fact that the Governor was wrong and that the law was not i fact being violated, but at the time it is enforced, that is the prerogative of the Governor.
Timidity in the face of evil is cowardice.
Yours is the most bizarre post I have read in a long time.
"I stand with the Constitution. I will not stand with someone who is unable to defend that sacred Document."
This, THIS is what I expect of a FReeper.
My compliments to you, sir.
"I just want people to remember that Jeb nor the President started this and both, especially Jeb, did a lot to try to save Terri. Maybe not everything, but they did do something."
Pilate: "I find no evil in this man."
Crowd: "Crucify him!"
Pilate, fearing a riot, washed his hands of the matter and handed him over to be crucified.
Pilate did a lot. He tried to reason with the crowd. He tried to calm them down. He offered a murderer, but the crowd chose the murderer over the man Pilate knew to be innocent. Pilate knew that he didn't have to order the crucifixion, but he knew that there would be a riot, which he would have to suppress with force, and he knew that the leaders in Rome had already criticized him for being too cruel.
And Jesus was just a nobody anyways. Innocent, maybe, but saving his life was not worth facing a riotous and angry local populace, and then possibly being removed from office by Rome. Thus calculated Pontius Pilate.
He argued with the crowd, and did not move them, so he washed his hands of the matter and let Jesus be tortured to death.
Pilate tried!
Never let it be said that Pontius Pilate did nothing!
He did quite a bit, trying every maneuver he could think of in order to save the man's life, because he knew the man to be innocent. But in the end, Pilate was not going to risk his prestige and position by flatly exerting his executive power to actually SAVE the innocent man's life.
Perhaps Pilate and his supporters figured that, with time, everyone would remember him for the aqueducts and roads and town markets he built, and nobody would remember his perfectly understandable unwillingness to really press the matter concerning some nobody over which people were on the verge of riot.
Pilate tried, and look how we remember him for those architectural marvels!
The men in the Blackhawk at Mogadishu tried too. They also failed their mission. But they gave their last full measure of honor on the field, got their injured out, protected their dead, and when they retired, their honor was intact. The price of THEM "trying" was some of their lives.
Neither Jeb nor Pilate were in personal danger.
It was a reputational thing.
And their failure is what made their reputation.
I couldn't agree more, except with one exception. The law should state that NO judge should be allowed to do this. A jury trial should be required, and if there is a hung jury, the person should live.
And when a President decides to overrule the judiciary and decree that homosexual marriages are now the law of the land, your ridiculous "let's let the Executive overrule the courts" will have set the precedent.
Rob,
If an explicitly Christian Pro-Life Party forms, perhaps by that name "The Christian Life Party", you must vote for it.
This case will be studied in law school for years to come to see what went wrong and what was right about it.
LIAR!
(Florida Constitution)
ARTICLE I
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
SECTION 2. Basic rights.
--All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty......
NO elected official gives up their inalienable natural right to DEFEND life, nor can that right be taken or abridged by judicial fiat.
As governor, he would get the 'elite' treatment that all politicians do when facing our (gag) legal system!
"What did Texans do after the Alamo?
What did Americans do after Pearl Harbor?
What did Citizens do after the Masss Supreme Court attacked marriage?
Instead of whining, about J. Bush who is term limited out of the governorship in 2006 we should be wondering who will be out next governor? Who is going to run agains Nelson (d)?
How are we going to get more NONwacko judges into office?"
Here, here!! Bravo!
Terri's case would be back in the courts within a week.
If he rescued her, it would be symbolic, but nothing more - and maybe that is very important to some. But Micheal would still be guardian, setting the rules like he is now, and I don't see how anything would change.
No way would the courts in any way look at this case without prejudice at the request of someone who would have just defied a court order. The problem is the courts. Sadly, evidence is irrelevant to the courts as there is well-documented credible evidence in the records of what Terri's wishes were, evidence that Greer erroneously dismissed that would have greatly challenged MS's assertions as to Terri's wishes. Also, the lawyer from last week who said Terri tried to say she wanted to live - totally irrelevant to the courts. The evidence is already there - it just doesn't matter.
Sadly, it's the courts we cannot trust.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, etc.... lawbreakers all.
Don't forget Abraham Lincoln -- his "Emanicpation Proclamation" was a DIRECT CONTRAVENTION of the Supreme Court's Dredd Scott decision.
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