Congress Won't Enforce Its Own Subpoenas

Congress and the Bush administration could still save Terri Schiavo – if they would simply enforce legal subpoenas that were issued last week demanding that Congress be allowed to interview Terri and others in the controversial matter.

Those Congressional subpoenas, however, have been wantonly ignored by a Florida state judge and local authorities in a brazen act.

so why hasn't Congress acted?

Because they have devised the perfect system.

Once elected, they have access to unlimited booze, broads (or page boys), and bribes-for life.

The only thing that can go wrong is that-quite incomprehensibly, to them-a mob of their inferiors, on election day, can bring it all to an end.

In order to prevent this, all decisions which could make someone-anyone-upset or angry, are transferred to an unelected judiciary.

Congressthings then can, and do, denounce those judges (but don't exercise their constitutional power to regulate them), while obtaining their preferred result at the same time, and, best of all, none of them loses the greatest job they've ever had, or ever will have.

Nice work if you can get it.

The Founders referred to (perfectly regular) Acts of Parliament as "acts of pretended legislation" because they contravened the natural law. They took these acts of "pretended legislation" so seriously that they overthrew the government over it.

The body of case law that has developed in this nation for the past 58 years is at this point an irritant to the body politic, but, inasmuch as it contravenes the intent of the same Supreme Judge of the world to which our founders appealed to vouchsafe the rectitude of their intentions, may at some time in the future again lead to war.

According to the rules, in order to be convicted of contempt of Congress, the congressional committee subject to the contempt first must report a resolution that the affected individual is guilty of contempt. This takes a majority vote of the committee. The full House or Senate then must approve the resolution, which sends the matter to a federal attorney, who may call a grand jury to decide whether to indict the affected individual, and prosecute - if the grand jury returns an indictment.

In other words, Congress enacted toothless measures, that they knew were toothless, in an effort to grandstand on what should be a private matter.

re: Some doctors claim she won't feel any pain

She might or might not suffer. We can never know. But either way we are suffering! Her family is suffering, being forced to watch their daughter die of thirst and hunger. If I have to watch someone perhaps suffer and die I would much prefer it be one of those who are on death row and have had the benefit of legal protections not offered to Terri. I can't know if Terri is suffering, but I can assure you that I am suffering on her behalf.

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.