[henbane]

It's not that the judge is ignoring Congress' intent, it's that the Schindlers' idiot attorneys based all their claims on due process violations by Greer.
Whittemore is even telegraphing what to do to fix this:

Plaintiffs have an opportunity to litigate any deprivation of Theresa Schiavo's federal rights.

If Schindler's lawyers based their claims on due process violations by Greer, isn't Whittemore's "suggestion" that they "have an opportunity to litigate any deprivation of Theresa Schiavo's federal rights[due process] a weird redundancy?

Knowing full well that the U.S.Congress wanted a de novo review of the underlying evidential material in Terri's case, Whittemore ruled as narrowly as he possibly could to toss it back into the void.

Whittemore could easily have enjoined the hospice to re-insert the tube pending a clarification of the issue--and then waiting while the"idiot attorneys" got some heavyweight help to create an ironclad document.

Let's not kid ourselves. The Federal Court system has been and will continue protecting its turf over the dying body of Terri Schiavo.

[Nick Danger]

If Schindler's lawyers based their claims on due process violations by Greer, isn't Whittemore's "suggestion" that they "have an opportunity to litigate any deprivation of Theresa Schiavo's federal rights[due process] a weird redundancy?

I don't think so. I read that as Whittemore trying to wave them off from this approach of trying to find procedural errors in the trial court record. That record, after all, had already been appealed several times to no effect. Greer is a careful guy. He apparently made no procedural errors.

What Whittemore is asking for is something like, "Theresa Marie Schiavo is being denied food and water by her husband, who claims that she is in a persistent vegetative state. There is substantial doubt about this diagnosis, as attested to in the enclosed 33 affidavits from medical professionals. Please re-insert the feeding tube while we litigate this."