Posted on 03/30/2005 12:25:05 PM PST by jpsb
Edited on 03/30/2005 12:44:39 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
With time running out for Terri Schiavo, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected her parents' latest attempt to get the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reconnected.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to consider an emergency bid by Bob and Mary Schindler for a new hearing in their case, raising a flicker of hope for the parents after a series of setbacks in the case. But the court rejected the request 15 hours later.
Three times last week, the court also ruled against the Schindlers.
"Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper," Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. wrote. "While the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty."
To be granted, the parents' request would have needed the support of seven of the court's 12 judges. The court did not disclose the vote breakdown.
The Schindlers visited their daughter Wednesday morning at her hospice and urged their supporters to keep trying. "I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw," Bob Schindler said. "So she's still fighting, and we'll keep fighting."
"We know that some of her organs are still functioning. ... It's not too late," he said.
In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not whether previous Florida court rulings met legal standards under state law. The Schindlers' motion also said the federal appellate court in Atlanta didn't consider whether there was enough "clear and convincing" evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition.
They DID NOT agree to hear the appeal. They agreed to let the Schindlers file a motion for rehearing after the time to file the motion had expired.
Period.
Do you think it was cruel to let the Schindlers file their motion? Or to waive the court's rule to do so? I can tell you that most litigants don't get that consideration.
The 60,000 Reichsmarks argument. Don't go there.
How many fact-findings has their been on this case? How many courts have heard old and new evidence, heard new hearsay, heard nothing relevant at all?
I'm sorry for being unsympathetic, but why is a woman who likely has the brain capacity of a walnut being given more preferential treatment and access to appeals and courts and findings-of-fact than someone who was convicted of a crime with nothing but circumstantial evidence or of a death row inmate?
You may consider this all judicial activism, but I see it as excessive exploitation of a legal process by people with little or no legal standing (i.e. the Schindlers). I know that's unpopular, but I care more about people in general and their future rights and welfare than I do about a woman who drove herself to heart attack by bulemia and parents who can't face harsh reality.
You get all this crap pushed through NOW, you set the precedent for LIBERALS to do it LATER on something MUCH worse.
So today we got a preview of how government intents to solve the soon to be upon us Socail Security problem. I certinly believe that to be true.
You are confusing death and murder.
We all have to die, but most of us don't want to be murdered just because the ACLU wants it that way.
The US Supreme Court, especially Antonin Scalia, considers these life-or-death decisions the whole province of state courts. (See Cruzan if you have any doubt about Scalia's opinion of a federal intervention in the Schiavo case.)
Be generous in your victory. Your viewpoint prevailed.
Many Schindlers' supporters are vicious, bitter and irrational. Let them vent. Ignore them. Don't get down in the gutter with them.
Respond to the rational posters who want to discuss the issues using facts, logic, and respect.
Just my $0.02.
Occam's razor is applicable to all reasoning.
The videos are far from convincing and do not make it clear what happened before the "reactions" or afterward or that these are not similiar to a plant turning towards the sun which does not indicate consciousness.
Doctors who have most conscientiously examined her agree. Those on the Schindler team do not meet the qualification and often haven't even examined the patient.
Wouldn't surprise me if he were blackmailed--or if the blackmail was directed at GWB and Jeb was told 'cooperate or GWB's laundry gets aired.'
You just argued that the starvation and dehydration of an "INNOCENT" woman does not warrant them taking the trouble to look beyond the pleading.
That claim belies that there was justice done in this case.
They still have not looked de novo although clearly mandated to do so by Congress.
Neither the law nor justice were served in this case.
You are watching autonomic functions not consciousness.
Well, since you have conveniently convinced yourself that Terri is no longer a human being, then it's perfectly okay with you to starve and DEHYDRATE her to death...
Not only do you favor euthanisia but a particularly cruel form of it. That is what I find appalling.
Thank you for the clarification.
It's almost a full-time job trying to keep up with the legal filings in this case. The media seem to have lost track too.
Conspiracy theories now?
What a vicious, bitter and irrational thing to say.
I agree and expect the same. I could never think of putting my sons through such an horror show.
That is my fear, Piper. At the very least, it will damage the Schindler family forever.
You may also want to ask why the Schindler's attorneys asked the court to extend their filing deadline and want this appeal decided, knowing this court has ruled against them previously.
Please provide a cite.
This is the MSM propaganda--unless you have a cite, you're full of crap.
There is more truth on Michael's side than on the Schindlers. Since his version of reality does not depend on the entire world being in a conspiracy against him.
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