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.
"Yours is the most bizarre post I have read in a long time."
Why? Because I'm saying that if we're going to have someone in the White House who acts like a liberal I'd just as soon have a liberal in the White House?
Not standing up to a crime is the same as endorsing the crime.
That, sir, is a legal precedent the USA created at Nuremberg.
Bush is guilty of killing Terri Schiavo because he is doing nothing to stop her death.
Just the same as good Germans sat by idly doing nothing while Jews were being put to death. The USA sat in judgment and said these Germans were supposed to kill judges and elected Nazi officials to protect innocent people.
Yet here we are with an innocent person being euthanized by judicial fiat. No law allows this to take place.
And GWB does nothing.
Under US legal precedent he is as guilty of killing Terri Schiavo as if he'd done it himself.
Is that not grounds for divorce in Florida?
It's ground for ARREST and PROSECUTION in Florida. An adultery arrest would be a good way to justify suspending Michael Schiavo's guardianship; I've emailed and called Jeb's office to inform them but they don't seem to care:
Florida Stat. Ann. 798.01 - Living in open adultery:
"Whoever lives in an open state of adultery shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding two years, or in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars. Where either of the parties living in an open state of adultery is married, both parties so living shall be deemed to be guilty of the offense provided for in this section."
More idiocy.
I contend you are either a disruptor or dimmer than a burned out lightbulb.
You've got the tense wrong, she ain't died yet. If anything has cost the GOP in '6 is their bogus intervention in the judicial system. For you to attempt to make hay in the sunshine of your Bush hate merely identifies you. Retreat to DU, infiltrator.
I could not agree more!!Jeb is not the bad one here.
"ONE JUDGE should NEVER be allowed to sentence an innocent disabled woman on heresay evidence."
"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."ONE JUDGE should NEVER be allowed to sentence an innocent disabled woman on heresay evidence."
You said it better than me - I was too narrowly focused on this one case, but you are right. There is so much wrong with this case, and a jury trial could be a solution so that this type of fiasco never happens again.
Wow, thank you for that. I'm going to verify and email that as well. I simply cannot believe this hasn't been made the crux of the argument. Are Terri's lawyers that incompetent, or is Mandarin Greer that incompetent?
Which is a conservative value:
A) The Constitution and the moral values inherent in it rule America and if a court order violates morality then the order MUST be un-Constitutional because the Constitution is not an amoral document for an amoral people.
* OR *
B) Judges determine what is justice in America and good conservatives will do whatever any judge orders.
Prosecutor Reaffirms Governor's Authority Under State Criminal Laws to Prevent Death of Schiavo
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1371592/posts?q=1&&page=1
Oh, and I don't recall Terri being charged with any crime, do you?
"No matter what choices are left, it ends with death. It is only a question of how that death will give meaning."
Very true, and I hope we can give it meaning by reigning in the judiciary by legal means, as, if we are to remain a country of laws, that's the only way things will really get changed for the better for the long haul.
Jeb's evidently not the one to take on the broken Judicial System.....next?
'Zeolot' has a precedent history.
Larry Klayman? You're an idiot.
And faster than a bolt of lightning. No way would he allow this to happen to his loved-ones, no matter what some lowly judge said.
"If anything has cost the GOP in '6 is their bogus intervention in the judicial system."
Yep, can't have the rabble questioning the decisions of the anointed judiciary, can we?
You tell me to "Retreat to DU, infiltrator." while it is you who stands with the agents of death.
You embrace the liberal love of the bench and simultaneously smear me as a liberal because I reject liberal values.
George Orwell wrote about people such as you.
No one wants the Bushes to break the law. But, several want them to do something if it is a bad law to correct the situation. If it is detrimental to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, doing nothing to alleviate the integrity of the matter, is just as disdainful as complacency in letting one die a horrible death. Prayers will help our Government to see and do something now rather than waiting for the painful reality of letting this terrible indecision die off!
"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.
Unreal. Klayman seems to get dumber by the minute."
Maybe you perfer the legal opinion of the Thomas More Law Center that was given to Jeb Bush over two years ago when he asked for their opinion.
Prosecutor Reaffirms Governor's Authority Under State Criminal Laws to Prevent Death of Schiavo
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1371592/posts
I prefer it to Larry Klayman's argument. It cites Florida statues that give the governor the legal authority to prevent Terri's death.
Judge Greer was supported by the GOP in Pinellas County.
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