Greer entered an order that essentially told an elected official that he was not to enforce a Florida statute that the official was sworn to enforce. In doing this, Greer was essentially claiming that the orders of his court in a civil proceeding trumped lawful acts of the legislature. Regardless of one's position on the Terri Schiavo matter, every legislator ought to be concerned that there is a judge out there ordering the Governor not to enforce laws that the legislature has passed. Note that this matter does not concern Florida's so-called "Terri's Law" which was held unconstitutional. This concerns long-extant legislation giving the Department of Children and Families a procedure to use in emergency cases. Greer ordered the Governor and the DCF to not do their duty under this law. This is a perfectly reasonable thing on which to impeach a judge. |
The act that Greer can be impeached for is the order he issued in response to a motion by Felos. This concerned the Governor's appearance on television announcing that he would send the DCF in to take custody of Terri Schiavo.