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Posted on Thu, May. 06, 2004

Judge throws out state law keeping Terri Schiavo alive

BY PHIL LONG

Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature violated the privacy rights of a severely brain-damaged woman when they ordered her feeding tube re-inserted to keep her alive last fall, a Clearwater judge ruled today, declaring the controversial ''Terri's Law'' unconstitutional.

''It is difficult to imagine a clearer deprivation of a judicially vested right by retroactive legislation than that which has occurred in this case,'' wrote Pinellas Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird.

The Legislature, ''can not retroactively create in the governor some previously nonexistent legal interest in controlling Mrs. Schiavo's private medical decisions after those decisions have been finally adjudicated'' in court, Baird wrote in a 23-page decision.

Baird ruled that the law not only violates Terri Schiavo's privacy rights, but also is a violation of the separation of powers prohibiting one branch of government from interfering with another's duties. In this case, Braid ruled, Bush had no right to overrule years of court litigation that led to the courts' decision to remove the feeding tube.

A spokesman for Bush's office said the governor has already filed a notice of appeal with the Second District Court of Appeal, based in Lakeland.

Terri Schiavo, who doctors say is in a persistent vegetative state, has been at the center of a six-year court fight over whether she lives or dies. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has fought to have the feeding removed, saying his wife told him before the incident that left her brain damaged that she would not want to be kept alive artificially.

Terri Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have battled to keep their daughter from being allowed to die, saying she never made a clear pronouncement that she would not want to live in her condition, and that she has the right to live.

Last fall, after the feeding tube had been removed by court order, the Legislature passed an emergency law giving Bush the right to order the tube reinserted, which he immediately did.

Michael challenged the law, leading to Thursday's ruling.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8604961.htm?1c

According to this judge, the courts can order the death of innocent people, violate the Constitution, and the other two branches can do nothing to step in and protect citizens.

Unbelievable!

The unrighteous judge says the law is 'unconstitutional'.

Perhaps he attended public skool, and doesn't understand the plain meaning of words.

Amendment V to the U.S, Constitution:

"No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law..."

As this helpless young woman has committed no crime, there can be no doubt in any thinking person's mind that she is completely covered by this provision.

And the American Declaration makes clear this truth: All people have an unalienable right to life, bestowed not by man, but by the Creator.

And if this ignoramus is referring to some imaginary violation of the Florida Constitution, he obviously has failed to comprehend it too:

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

PREAMBLE

We, the people of the State of Florida, being grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, in order to secure its benefits, perfect our government, insure domestic tranquility, maintain public order, and guarantee equal civil and political rights to all, do ordain and establish this constitution.

ARTICLE I

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

Sec. 2. All natural persons are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty...No person shall be deprived of any right because of race, religion or physical handicap.

BAIRDY BOY HAS NEVER HEARD OF CHECKS AND BALANCES so that one branch cannot exert unwielding authority such as over the Executive Branch or the Legislative Body.

"Baird ruled that the law not only violates Terri Schiavo's privacy rights, but also is a violation of the separation of powers prohibiting one branch of government from interfering with another's duties. In this case, Braid ruled, Bush had no right to overrule years of court litigation that led to the courts' decision to remove the feeding tube.