I do think it was dumb to get up in a press conference and say "We have the authority to take custody," and then wait for the judge to issue a restraining order before acting.
That said, he made a serious and protacted effort to work within the legal framework, corrupt as it is, to save Terri. He deserves credit for that.
I can't say exactly what I would have done in his position, because I'm not in his position.
I would say, though, that if he would have chosen an extralegal avenue, he would have been morally justified, and I would have fully supported him in that.
It was illegal to protect Jews in Nazi Germany. Thankfully, there were many brave people who did so in violation of the law.
Halleluja, brother. And as St. Augustine said, "An unjust law is no law at all."
While I am at, I am going to get physically ill if someone opines one more time that this is a nation of laws. What nation wasn't a nation of laws? Our founding fathers broke laws. They broke the laws of their Sovereign, the Kind of England. Without such "lawlessness" we wouldn't have this "nation of laws." They fought and died for the proposition that there is a higher law than mans' law.
The idea of a higher law, natural law, what have you, has a long tradition in the Western world. I think there comes a time when people have to draw the line. I think this sentiment is perfectly compatible with the beliefs of our founding fathers.