If Congress has any juevos, it will look for a collision with the judicial branch under Article III. Regardless of what you think of the policy behind the statute, the federal judiciary told Congress to pound sand. In the 11th Circuit decision, Judge Birch ripped Congress up one side and down the other in intemperate rhetoric for directing a de novo hearing. THe federal courts viewed this case as mainly a @#$% measuring contest between the legislative and judicial branches. We live in an age of an imperial judiciary, not just in the Schiavo case but many others (e.g. citing foreign law in decisions, abortion, etc.) It has gotten to a point where it does not matter what a freely elected legislature enacts because in the end the judiciary controls what is law and what is not. Congress has a real problem on its hands and it has got to take action or be dismissed as irrelevant.
Congress can under Article III set jurisdictional limits for the federal courts. The problem here is deep and starts in law school. Law students are and were well trained in parsing language and manipulating language to effectuate their own policy preferences rather than apply the law as enacted. That's one reason why so many judges "grow" in office and disappoint conservatives who appointed them. The long term solution to this problem is for Congress to assert itself and redefine federal court jurisdiction. The Schiavo case is one prime example, but so would many others, like using foreign law to subordinate the will of the American people.
If COngress does nothing, this problem simply gets worse and we will be living in an oligarchy, assuming we haven;t already arrived.
I agree. I not sure what a "juevos" is. Is that "balls"?