Posted on 03/18/2005 4:32:07 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay pledged Friday to hold Florida state judge George Greer in contempt of Congress for ignoring a congressional subpoena for Terri Schiavo's testimony, saying, "No little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress."
"The Congress will pursue this, if we have to hold him in contempt of Congress," DeLay told radio host Sean Hannity.
Pressed on whether he intended to hold Judge Greer in contempt, the top Republican told Hannity: "Absolutely, absolutely."
"We will do everything to enforce the power and authority of the Congress and no little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress," he added.
Earlier in the day Judge Greer rebuffed the Schiavo subpoena, telling attorneys in the case, "I have had no cogent reason why the [congressional] committee should intervene." He claimed that the last-minute action on the part of Congress does not nullify years of legal proceedings.
But DeLay told Hannity, "This judge and the Supreme Court of Florida are well known to be liberal judges that have a different worldview and they're imposing their worldview on the law."
The top House leader said that "no sane person" could look at Schiavo and say she's in a persistent vegetative state.
DeLay called a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, who has pressed for years to have his wife starved to death, "the personification of evil."
Here's an article about Judge Greer. It also has a photo of him. The article, which describes him as a conservative Republican Christian, provides quite a bit of detail about his background.
I have a feeling that this won't be the last of these kinds of cases. It's a tragic, tragic story, any way you look at it.
How does Schiavo have a common law wife? He's legally married to Terri.
He has a mistress.
How does he have a "conflict of interest?" He is the spouse of Terri, in law, and can make the decision he's making.
Not a single court, state or federal, sees this your way, walsh.
We can't simply cast the law aside when it doesn't go our way.
No, I haven't. What does he say? I'm almost scared to ask.
LOL, I lost a lot of sleep, we'll put it that way. But we did find some very valuable information, as well as some great leads.
My health and the childishness of the pro-death faction here at FR have severely limited my posting on the Terri threads, but I've been active and prayerful nonetheless.
Thanks for finding that link for me. I still have to post only a little at a time...haven't been out of the hospital all that long.
God Bless "The Hammer!"
So your complaint is that Congress oversteps by issuing a summons such as that by Delay for Terri Shiavo?
The fact is this Greer guy is already undertaking rebellion against the Constitutional authority of the United States.
It's time to put a stop to that.
You'd think the supremes would be VERY interested in end-of-life issues, and making sure that someone is at least FED and HYDRATED! They're all getting on in years.
Actually, they don't know Terri Schiavo at all, or care.
Their position was asked as a general statement.
"Who should in all cases be the one to make decisions for someone who can't do it for themselves?"
You can't base the law for all of us on what is best for one person in one unusual case.
So9
"Actually, I was hoping that doctors would decline to pull the feeding tube until they had to search all over the country for one to do the lethal deed.
The judge should have done it himself if he was so gung-ho to see Terry die."
Agree.
Good line!
I don't get it.
Here is what the Florida Court of Appeals has held:
"In this case, however, Michael Schiavo has not been allowed to make a decision to disconnect life-support. The Schindlers have not been allowed to make a decision to maintain life-support. Each party in this case, absent their disagreement, might have been a suitable surrogate decision-maker for Theresa. Because Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers could not agree on the proper decision and the inheritance issue created the appearance of conflict, Michael Schiavo, as the guardian of Theresa, invoked the trial court's jurisdiction to allow the trial court to serve as the surrogate decision-maker."
The state of Florida has assumed the power to decide which innocent people live and die in Florida. Where they derive this power from is a mystery. It's not from Florida's constitution but if it were it would be unconstitutional. It certainly isn't derived from the US Constitution.
Cruel and unusual punishement? Only obtains for serial killers.
Executive clemency? Again only for criminals and murderers.
Equal protection for Terri Schiavo? A freaking joke.
He has moved in with Jodi, fathered two children by her, and pledged to marry her. He refuses to divorce Terri. If Terri had an honest guardian, a divorce would be very quick and expensive for Michael whether he liked it or not (Florida law explicitly allows guardians to file for divorce on behalf of disabled wards). Given that he refuses to do something any reasonable guardian would do without hesitation, that would suggest a conflict of interest.
Don't be too sure. Some of the wingnuts are starting to feel their oats.
I
I've not heard anything either..... I was thinking maybe there had been something in the Chronicle, etc.
Good question. I would guess the DA doesn't fully understand what is happening in this case.
Yes the sickening trolls are here to dance on Terri's grave
And they are relishing the predicament the jackass republicans have put themselves in by letting one puny angel-of-death judge run roughshod over them
You can certainly nuance it better. The hyper libertarian streak has usurped all sanity.
Every state has a law giving that decision to the spouse. They all chose that, because their constituents wanted that.
The power is vested in the spouse by the people.
SO9
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