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.
At the present time. We are a law of the land country. If you don't like the outcome of Terri's situation.... become proactive and get Pro Life Judges and Political leaders in place each and every election.
Oh, BS
There are only 2 choices, either WE control the government, or the government controls US!
You call anything that doesn't kowtow to some facet of government 'anarchy'!
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, from Paris, Jan. 30, 1787
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of the government."
(Regarding Shay's Rebellion)
If you call freedom anarchy, I wonder what the Founders would have called you?
His legal staff has talked with the Schindlers it looks like.
He said he has no legal authority on the issue.
OK for the sake of harmony on that aspect, I'll say "YES".
However, he has a "moral authority" which actually supercedes "legal authority".
History is complete with instances, many profiles in courage, when moral authority superceded legal authority, and was accordingly but into effect. The most recent cases are civil rights in the South, where the law was disobyed for a higher, standing GOOD.
I don't wish this lightly. But if Terri Schiavo dies, I wish the Governor many sleepless nights, tossing and turning over his "hurt".
I don't wish that as a Freeper, I wish it as an American.
I wish it just as I would publically wish it upon Janet Reno, Bill/Hillary Clinton or or American LIBERALS or DEMOCRATS, knowing that such a wishful sentiment embodied in such a comment would be allowed to stay up on Free Republic.
Conroverial post in #184 by A.I.T., critically directed toward Governor Bush's recent statements and inaction, and related moral discussion.
FL is no fault.
The only evidence required for a divorce is one of the parties raising their right hand and statingthere are "irreconcilable differences".
WHENEVER you hear irreconcilable differences, that is just form language.
The issue of infidelity only MIGHT be applied in division of material properties. (spending money on mistress) BUT first you have to be IN the divorce proceedings.
Adultery is irrelevat to most judges. They will not even allow the issue to be raised.
If it is idiocy to say Bush is wrong for doing nothing then the United States owes a number of apologies to the families of Nazi officials we put to death because they did nothing to stop the Holocaust.
Bush could have the woman arrested under the Patriot Act and taken to Guantanomo Bay (for instance) where she'd be out of the reach of those who want to kill her.
Frankly, he could have the woman sent to the Vatican where she'd safely live out her days.
Maybe he'd be impeached for doing so (highly unlikely) but the point is that he has the power to have the woman saved and he is doing nothing.
I must add that I am utterly shocked at how many FReepers are essentially saying that the courts rule America.
These same people are upset with me for saying I'd rather have a liberal in the White House if it will make no difference at all between liberal and conservative.
Why do you complain since the resident of the White House is irrelevant if the nation is to be ruled by the Courts?
Why bother having elections at all since judges routinely decide the outcomes?
Send Congress home. Close the White House. Put away the silly ol' Constitution.
All Hail the Justices, Rulers of the United States!
I'm not trying to start an argument, but for the ones who keep saying "he tried, he's done all he can, he's done more than most", etc. Exactly what has he done? I'm not being flippant, I just really don't see what he did, as governor, to prevent Terri's fate. What did he do over and above what her lawyers could have done w/o him?
The judiciary interpreted the law and made a finding. The rabble wants extralegal means employed.
I contend that you are seeking as much disruption from this issue as possible.
It's certainly well represented here.
Only idiots would demand their leaders break the law - the moment this becomes acceptable; the slippery slope is **stepped upon and every group with their own agendas will be demanding similar influence. Do you really want the satanists to begin running your churches? After all, perhaps the satanists will be demanding the next democratic leaders ALSO BREAK THE LAW and violate the US Constitution by making satanism the official religion of the US.
What goes around comes around. Don't forget it.***
EXACTLY! do we want rat govenors running amok?
I had told my husband that I wished Jeb would ride in on his white horse to save teri. He reminded me that in order to do so he would have to ride right over the heads of the state and supreme court.
he said fast forward, to a possible Hildabeast presidency-a simular situation comes to the courts, but they rule in favor of leaving the feeding tube in. However she feels the woman would not want to live that way, so she takes the poor man or woman into custody and yanks the tube. would anyone here not wail and scream?
It is a slippery slope and the rats would take full advantage-it would be total chaos!
Jeb has done all he can without breaking the law. We should take advantage of having a prolife president and make sure that this never happens to anyone again.
Glad to see another real conservative in here.
Moral authority MUST trump the law.
The Holocaust was perfectly legal.
Heavenly Father - We beseech Thee to help our little Sister, Theresa Marie Schindler, to rise above these evil doers and find that peace which passes all understanding. In Jesus Christ's Holy Name - Amen.
Well, not if Republicans don't vote for them it won't. I'm not ready to give up. I remember the 1970s and 1980s, when it was unthinkable that Republicans would ever take over Congress. Just like it was unthinkable that the Berlin Wall would come down and the Soviet Union would dissolve.
Look what's happened since Republicans became the majority. Just recently we finally opened up Alaska for drilling -- would that have happened with a Democrat Congress? Would we have gotten a tax cut if Bush hadn't been elected in 2000? Would we have terrorists around the world on the run if we'd elected a Democrat president in 2000 or 2004?
I get just as angry as anyone over weak-spined Republicans, but you don't teach them how to grow a spine by punishing them when they finally show a spine -- more spine than any Democrat.
Gut responses like that to criticisms of Jeb are getting stale and ring hollow. To date at least 35 people have been arrested attempting to enter Terri's hospice, many of them children and all of them private citizens. They've all been stopped, overpowered, and handcuffed by the coercive arm of the county police. That fact is conclusive evidence that only another police force with higher authority than the county sheriffs has even the slightest hope of succeeding in entry. Right now the only person with the power to call out one of those police forces is the governor.
Not you. Not me. Not any other private citizen, who would be arrested and coerced into submission at the moment we tried to cross the police line with water as at least 35 people have done so far. Only the Governor. And right now the Governor wants to play it politically safe.
To all who think adding more laws will solve the problem, there are plenty of laws already on the books that are being ignored in this case. Evidently, the law doesn't matter, just who is in charge at any given moment in time, and how willing they are to ignore the law. I've always suspected that. That is why the only issue I'm "fanatical" about is being anti-gun control. Truly, they are your last line of defence, because all of this other crap will fail you at some point.
"I contend that you are seeking as much disruption from this issue as possible."
I contend that killing this woman is wrong.
No matter how you stop an atrocity, you are right. It would be morally right to save Terri Schiavo, an innocent, by lethal means. It would be morally right to die trying to stop her murder.
The Warsaw Uprising was illegal. Good to know you'd stand firm with the Nazis and say:
"The rabble wants extralegal means employed."
Bad ol' Jews, standing up to legal authority!!
Amen
Item: an 8.2 earthquake is right now being flashed to me from my Indonesia office.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.