Conservative judge blasts Bush, Congress for role in Schiavo case

Knight Ridder ^ | 3/30/05 | Stephen Henderson

[Askel5]

=== Give it a rest you gutless one - Jeb and GWB have done all they can (under the law and the constitution!)


Please keep in mind that the courts are enforcing legislation the Bush brothers signed for their respective states as governor.

Indeed they've been busy.

[NeoCaveman]

Birch said he couldn't countenance Congress' attempt to "rob" federal courts of the discretion they're given in the Constitution.

Marbury v. Madison is now the Constituion?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Additionally, in order for Schiavo's parents to win in federal court, judges would have to embrace a doctrine of constitutional due process that conservatives have decried. Such "substantive" due process, which Justice Antonin Scalia sharply criticized in a recent speech as part of the threat that will "destroy the Constitution."

Funny how it never occurs to the author of this piece that liberals, in an effort to see Terri die, are embracing a doctrine against substantive due process that they usually embrace on issues like gay marriage, sodomy, gay adoption, abortion, affirmative action, and so forth. Heck, liberals just used it to save the life of a 17-year-old murderer. They are going to have plenty of splainin' to do themselves the next time they whip out the due process argument.

Conservatives never denied the right to due process. They just deny that it applies to the entire liberal legislative agenda.

The right to life started out as an inalienable right. What happened?

[Nick Danger]

This judge is 100% correct in this instance

Do you say that because you have studied the matter at some length, or because you got sucked in by the media's favorite trick of quoting the hell out of any conservative who happens to be on their side at the moment?

You'll notice there is not a word in this article about the dissenting opinions filed with this concurring opinion. If you haven't already, read the dissent (I posted it above) and see if you still agree with Birch.

[verity]

Here come the judge. Here comes the judge.

[Robert Drobot]

Constitutionally Correct!.......yeah, that's the ticket.

Putting aside this torturous and barbaric government ordered murder by starvation, I dare you to tell FReepers when government last followed the Constitutional limitations of their office/authority, or for that matter acted in accordance with their oath of office?

[California Patriot]

Disgraceful comments from this judge. I only wish that
Mr. Sekulow and the White House had made stronger comments in reaction. We cannot help what the RINOs do. They are who they are. We may be able to stiffen the spines of our supposed friends.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I'm just overwhelmed by that display of intelligence. Do you write this stuff yourself?

[SevenMinusOne]

Please keep in mind that the courts are enforcing legislation the Bush brothers signed for their respective states as governor. Indeed they've been busy.

I understand that (but it is still the law and how our Country operates) - Also it should be noted that the more I have learned about this case over the past six weeks or so....the more I find Michael Schiavo to be in the complete wrong (for a number of reasons...as well as his actions).

But nonetheless those trying to run Jeb or GWB down over this are simply small-minded, small-ego'd people who like to puff their chests up while not having to deal with any of the real responsibilities, laws, etc - (people like that make me want to puke).

[Askel5]

Along the way he seems to have forgotten that the Founding Fathers actually did give Congress that power!

Where the Culture of Death is concerned -- particularly now that their culling of the unborn has been so successful we have a "cereal and milk" situation fast approaching if we don't off some of the "Living" -- it pays to remember EXACTLY what powers Congress assumed for itself in direct contravention of the "inalienable rights" on which our Founding Fathers claimed this nation's right to independence in the first place. To wit:

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The Task Force believes that much more knowledge is needed by the public in general about fertility control, contraception techniques and sex determination, as well as the social and material consequences resulting from increased population, in order that the broadest number of options are available to everyone in making personal decisions that affect the use of natural resources, family size and ultimately our environment.

There must exist a greater sensitivity to these problems which cannot be provided by the federal government. The government can provide leadership and direction but should never be put into a position of having to enact controls on population as a result of public ignorance and indifference.

---

Amazing, isn't it? All it takes is "public ignorance and indifference" to problems to force the poor government into enacting whatever controls it deems "moral".

---

Death tolls have been reduced in every country to negligible rates from epidemics and diseases such as malaria, measles, smallpox, cholera, polio and tuberculosis; major advances have been made against heart disease and cancer, artificial organs can now prolong life.

Since we accept these intrusions into nature's control of population as morally justified, are we not unwise to consider birth control with equal moral justificiation?

If we continue to support government activities to reduce disease and improve health in order to prolong life under the auspices of what is good for society, then should we not consider birth control as a government activity for similar reasons?

In the Task Force report on "Federal Government Family Planning Program" it was recommended that Congress increase appropriations for contraceptive research in the amount of $380,000,000.00 over the next five years.

---

If think that the GOP and the men they confirmed to head up the American Academy of Sciences and other critical agences were speaking SOLELY to the prevention, abortion, and artification reproduction of new Living, think again.

Those who accepted this "moral" depopulation, prevention and culling of the unborn best now be prepared to Depopulate themselves.

---

As a result of reduced death rates, there are more people in their non-productive years than ever before. More children and more elderly people unable to participate in the world's work force increase the burden on the productive age group. [...] The National Academy of Sciences has said:

Either the birth rate must go back down or
the death rate must go back up.

---

Recommendations of the Task Force on Earth Resources and Population

[verity]

I am only attempting to remain within the parameters of your comprehension.

[gwbiny2k]

I am as conservative as they come, and I agree
with the judge. The president and congress has no business
getting involved in individual cases.

[Richard Kimball]

There is no law.

[joesbucks]

But....but.....but we must have more republicans elected to get conservative judges that will vote how we see things. Oh wait, they seem to want to interpret the law instead of how we believe it should be done.

[Bommer]

Due process for whom? Michael Schivo or Terri? I read it that she is supposed to have due process, not to have hearsay mentioned 7 years after the fact on her "wishes" used as her due process! Any other court case it would have been inadmissible.

[Emmett McCarthy]

Only phonies use stupid words like "parameters". They think it makes 'em sound smart.

[Smartass]

Judge Birch has it wrong. There's a definitive difference between discretion and following the letter of the law.

The Florida, Federal District Court Judge (Whittemore) didn't follow the new congressional guidelines to review the Shiavo case. He used the older review method, hence, Terri dies. Two of the three 11th circuit court of appeals judges upheld Whittemore. WHY...? "Judicial independence." Meaning, I'm not going to follow laws, or the Constitution, I'm going to do and rule as I please. So take that!!!

[af_vet_1981]

Impeach, convict, and remove judicial tyrants of all political persuasions. They simply want to rule over us without a pesky election.

[Askel5]

But nonetheless those trying to run Jeb or GWB down over this are simply small-minded, small-ego'd people who like to puff their chests up while not having to deal with any of the real responsibilities, laws, etc - (people like that make me want to puke).

To the contrary.

They are educated people who've done their homework and understand only too well that actions speak louder than words.

Additionally, they are folks who have some semblance of logic left such that the words of our First Lady broadcast on the national news this evening: "It MUST be a federal question, it's a LIFE issue." make US puke in that our First Lady -- like all but one Republican First Ladies since Nixon -- is not only Pro-Choice but in favor of Human Farming for stem cell research as sanctioned at the Federal Level, albeit in a limited fashion along the lines of Condi's being "mildly pro-choice", by her husband during his first televised address to the nation.

If that is her idea of a "LIFE" issue that needs Federal input ... well, I think all thinking men and women ought to be able to see the writing on the wall.

Assuming, of course, that the fact Jeb and George W. Bush signed the state legislation currently being enforce, the fact that 5 of the 6 11th Circuit justices appointed by Republicans gave Terri a thumbs down and the fact that George H. Bush was the primary mover in Congress of the most comprehensive and expensive population control program the world has ever known have not already made an impression on folks.

[MamaTexan]

that developed procedure must be maintained even if innocents must die.

Maybe the judiciary needs to be reminded of what USED to be common knowledge.

Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,-'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;' and to 'secure,' not grant or create, these rights, governments are instituted.

BUDD v. PEOPLE OF STATE OF NEW YORK, 143 U.S. 517 (1892)