 Cynthia Tucker |
Posted on 04/03/2005 6:42:45 PM PDT by Gondring
Friends of Florida judge George Greer describe him as a low-key conservative Christian, a Republican, a family man, a dog lover. Appellate courts have found over and over again that Greer simply followed the law in deciding a sad and controversial case. But for that sin, the Pinellas County Circuit Court judge was invited out of his Southern Baptist Church.
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Apparently, Greer's critics, including his pastor, didn't like his rulings in the Terri Schiavo case, which landed in his courtroom in 1998. They wanted him to be an activist judge -- a jurist who ignored the law and ruled according to the passions of a group of partisans.
Ultraconservatives want you to believe the term "activist judge" applies to a group of determined liberals whose rulings have overturned historic precedent, undermined morality and defied common sense. But the controversy that erupted around Schiavo, who died on Thursday, ought to remind us once and for all what "activist judge" really means: a jurist whose rulings dissatisfy a right-wing political constituency.
Over the next few months, you'll hear the term "activist judge" often as President Bush nominates justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. The president could end up appointing as many as four. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, is ailing with cancer; John Paul Stevens is also an octogenarian. Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are cancer survivors in their 70s.
With so many likely vacancies, ultraconservatives see an opportunity to drive from the bench any semblance of fealty to the law or the U.S. Constitution. They claim that judges have become the tool of an outlandish liberal fringe that has violated the graves of the Founding Fathers. When right-wing talk-show hosts and U.S. senators denounce judicial activism, they conjure up images of jurists who terrorize the God-fearing, coddle criminals and would -- according to one crazed campaign memo passed around during last year's presidential campaign -- outlaw the Bible.
The next time you hear those claims, think of Judge Greer, whose politics tilt to the right. He is among the targets of ultraconservative ire.
For that matter, think of the current Supreme Court -- hardly a bastion of liberalism. Its justices declined to intervene in the Schiavo case because they could find no legitimate reason to do so.
While the rift between Michael Schiavo and his in-laws, Bob and Mary Schindler, is depressing, family conflict is almost a way of life in America. Courts are called upon often to settle family disputes over money, children and property. Florida law makes clear that a spouse has the right to decide end-of-life issues, and, after testimony from several people, Greer upheld Schiavo's claim that his wife didn't want to be kept alive through artificial means.
It is perfectly understandable that the Schindlers were unhappy with his ruling. As grieving parents, they wanted to believe, contrary to the judgment of several physicians, that their daughter might one day be miraculously restored.
But the attacks on the judiciary by the Schindlers' supporters -- including an attempted end-run by an activist Congress -- made it clear that a minority of religious extremists have no respect for the law and no understanding of the separation of powers on which this government was founded.
Among those who missed their high school civics class, apparently, were Congress and the president. In one of many rulings turning down the Schindlers' request for intervention, an Atlanta federal court judge chastised the executive and legislative branches for overreaching.
"Congress chose to overstep constitutional boundaries into the province of the judiciary. Such an act cannot be countenanced," wrote Judge Stanley Birch, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush. Hardly a liberal activist.
The current President Bush has already made clear that his idea of a model chief justice is Clarence Thomas, who has no respect for judicial precedent. But even Thomas might not satisfy the extremists who chastise Judge Greer. They will be satisfied with nothing less than a judiciary steeped in the same narrow religious views they want to impose on the nation.
Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be reached by e-mail: cynthia@ajc.com.
So it should be your choice.
I don't believe you by the way. No sane person would want to go through what Terri did. Life is not THAT dear. There ARE fates worse than death. Perhaps you have some extreme religion that tells you you must suffer endlessly and it is God's will. I'm a protestant. I don't find that in the Bible so I don't have to make it part of my doctrine.
False dilemma.
The state court never restricted oral ingestion of food and water, had Mrs. Schiavo requested it. But it couldn't be forced upon her...put into her mouth without her request.
I haven't quoted any quacks.
My problem is that she was ordered to not be able to eat or drink until she died.
That simple.
You flame people for having religious beliefs, and for believing that there is something morally wrong in dehydrating an American citizen, most likely against their will- and you wonder why there is emotion in this case?
You claim to want to keep religion out of politics, but you keep calling people names because you don't like their religious beliefs.
Let me guess you are really angry at the "freaks" in Jesusland" for electing President Bush?
Shame on you.
That would be the same husband who presented himself to a court and asked for millions and millions of dollars to care for his wife for the rest of her life. That would be the same husband who, upon settlement of that case, decided in rather short order that she wouldn't want to live that way. Even Greer wouldn't rule on his testimony in his 2000 order because of potential conflicts of interest. Instead he relied on other Schiavo's and an expert witness who had never met Terri but represented what people her age would want.
I would want the same thing for myself as would anyone else who is honest. Anybody that tells me they want to lay in a PVS for fifteen years is lying or some sort of unbalanced fanatic. Let alone 20 or even 30 years as per the Schindlers plan for their daughter. If that's love ... I don't want any.
There is nothing you can show me that will
A) Show a living will
B) Explain why Terri was not allowed to communicate her wishes
C)Explain why Greer broke so many laws to kill Terri
Uh...try again...maybe you're skipping the part you didn't bold...you know, the important part that tells what it's about:
The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in...
Fix your reading glasses !
Well, well..seems mine are fine.
Yes it is. Life is that important to us. Just because we don't chose death like yourself doesn't make us "liars."
If you were an estranged relative, you say you would chose death for us anyway. It shouldn't be our choice if we didn't tell you. We should be forced to accept your dictate?
Your dilemma is the false one. How can we know she wasn't asking for it? The only way she could be force-fed is with a tube. Without one, she could easily refuse, simply by spitting it out (I had a relative that chose exactly this option at the end of his life).
Basically, your argument is that Mrs. Schiavo's wishes in the present have less value than her wishes in the past. That is the only justification for say that one should not stick a spoon in her mouth to see if she wanted to eat. But Greer made that choice for her. He ruled that no attempt be made to feed her orally. How is this not the government interfering in private choices?
What name calling? And hmmm..I suppose that calling Judge Greer and Mr. Schiavo "murderers" is fine? Well, with your moral relativism, I can see how you might find "murderer" not a very bad thing...but to my side, that goes along with the "nazi" and "death cultist" and other slurs.
Terri didn't have PVS. She was disabled. Remember, the MSM doesn't have the best interest in the lives of the American people. They have an agenda. They want Universal Health Care, where the government decides who lives or dies. They support death, and their polls have deceived many.
Oh, come on. And Jesse Jackson is a wonderful conservative icon, too, I suppose. </sarc>
Give me an everlasting break. Mrs. Schiavo's EEG was FLAT. What wishes do you expect she could have communicated from or through THAT? And what stopped her from communicating those wishes? Was it that she was too busy making totally random movements and expressions, amazingly similar to a woman in a PVS?
Your end justify your means I guess. Must be why you actually believe that making up fairy tales is ok and nobody will notice.
A) Show a living will
Not necessary in Florida BY LAW
B) Explain why Terri was not allowed to communicate her wishes
Because whe was in a persistant vegetative state. Are you blind deaf and dumb?
C)Explain why Greer broke so many laws to kill Terri
Your 'laws' maybe. How many more reviews do you want? ( as many as it takes obviously) Finally a Fed court with the whole US Congress and the POTUS could not prove Greer broke any laws.
You people are flat irrational.
If I am ever in a PVS, I would likely ingest food that was put in my mouth...perhaps choking on some, perhaps ingesting some. Mrs. Schiavo could not "spit it out" without having some higher cognitive function. It's the nature of the medical condition, and I don't even want that tried.
Our laws recognize that we have the right to decide now that we don't want to have medical care if we get into such a state.
Why are you trying to expand the control of governemnt over our lives?
Don't like my moral relativism?
Gee- I just thought I was a Conservative,law abiding citizen.
So do you have a problem with all of our countries laws- or just the ones with religious overtones.
Good luck finding one law that doesn't have it's basis and roots in religious freedom and Christianity. LOL! (It is called the Declaration of Independence)
BTW- I never called you or anyone else a Nazi or a death cultist or a murder. Stick to the facts.
There you go agin. Making shit up. Nobody is forcing YOU to do anything. Write your living will and force your relatives and the state to keep you alive forever. It's your right.
YOU want to force YOUR will on everybody else. There are millions and millions of us. A huge majority. That want the right to have the plug or the tube pulled for ourselves. You can't change that. We will fight you tooth and nail till the bitter end.
You obviously would have fought to keep TS in that bed regardless of her wishes. You don't care about peoples wishes. You are a single issue Right To Life person and you want to force everyone else to your will. Forget it.
You have elected yourselves judge and jury and you have judged Michael Schiavo and Judge Gree as if you are omnipotent. It's some sort of madness.
They didn't check her brain waves. They just took pictures. They have no idea how much awareness she had. Her husband wouldn't let them test her.
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