Courts still need restraint - (Tom Delay's remedy; impeach judges, or change the law?)

BOSTON HERALD.COM ^ | APRIL 20, 2005 | GUY DURST

[MeekOneGOP]

Here's an in your face pic for the Liberal
lyin' jerks trying to smear Delay!

[Ohioan from Florida]

Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!

[floriduh voter]

JUST SOME OF THE FLORIDA LAWS THAT JUDGE GREER AND JUDGE BAIRD VIOLATED AND FOR THAT MATTER, JUDGE WHITTEMORE ALSO VIOLATED THEM because he refused to get the feeding tube back in. That's two counts of murder right there and Judge Baird = manslaughter for not giving Jeb Bush due process. Jeb Bush sat on his hands and his punishment will be a lifetime of regret that he could have rescued her.

765.309 Florida Statute: Mercy Killing of Euthanasia Not Authorized; Suicide Distinguished. -- (1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia, or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act of omission to end the life other than to permit the natural process of dying. (2) The withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures from a patient in accordance with any provision of this chapter does not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide.

458.326 Florida Statute: Intractable Pain; Authorized Treatment. -- (4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia, and no treatment authorized by this section may be used for such purpose.

782.08 Florida Statute: Assisting Self-Murder. -- Every person deliberately assisting another in the commission of self-murder shall be guilty of manslaughter, a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s.775.082, s. 775.083 or s.775.084.

[dirtboy]

JUST SOME OF THE FLORIDA LAWS THAT JUDGE GREER AND JUDGE BAIRD VIOLATED

I don't think you can get Greer on that cite from statute 765. Here is the section you cited:

765.309 Florida Statute: Mercy Killing of Euthanasia Not Authorized; Suicide Distinguished. -- (1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia, or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act of omission to end the life other than to permit the natural process of dying. (2) The withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures from a patient in accordance with any provision of this chapter does not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide.

Now, let's look just above that section:

765.305 Procedure in absence of a living will.--

(1) In the absence of a living will, the decision to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging procedures from a patient may be made by a health care surrogate designated by the patient pursuant to part II unless the designation limits the surrogate's authority to consent to the withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures.

(2) Before exercising the incompetent patient's right to forego treatment, the surrogate must be satisfied that:

(a) The patient does not have a reasonable medical probability of recovering capacity so that the right could be exercised by the patient.

(b) The patient has an end-stage condition, the patient is in a persistent vegetative state, or the patient's physical condition is terminal.

So from the same bill, there is language that would allow such action as was taken against Terri (this is NOT meant as condoning what happened to Terri - it is instead a critique of the claims your post is making).

Without some very extensive research, it is difficult to tell how much Greer was breaking the law. Lifting a qualifying paragraph out of a much larger statute doesn't provide much guideance.

If Greer was making his own law, he should be impeached. If he was acting within the law, then the law needs to be changed. But that determination needs to happen with a careful examination of all relevant statutes, and needs to happen within the government of the state of Florida and not by the feds, IMO.

[llortami]

"There is currently no check on courts assuming powers not granted to them by constitutions. None, nada, zilch."

Sure there are:
1. Constitutional amendments although unlikely, can be used to correct judicial overreaching. Dred Scott and the 14th Am. for example
2. Congress can impeach federal judges
3. Under Article III congress can remove matters from federal court jurisdiction so that state law would apply. So if for example enough of Congress didn't agree with the Supreme Courts view of abortion, that can Congress can make it so federal courts cannot review abortion cases

Also Federal Judges are nominated and approved by the political branches. So if you don't like the type of justices that are getting nominated, don't vote for Presidentthat nominated them or the Senator that approved them. Thats how our system works.

Never forget that it was Eisenhower (not Johnson) that appointed Earl Warren And Reagan (not Clinton) that appointed Anthony Kennedy

[dirtboy]

And Reagan also appointed Sandra Day O'Connor. And Bush I appointed Souter.

Sometimes I think there should be a constitutional amendment limiting judgeships to 12-16 years - they seem to lose their perspective when they sit on that bench for too long.

[llortami]

"Sometimes I think there should be a constitutional amendment limiting judgeships to 12-16 years - they seem to lose their perspective when they sit on that bench for too long"

That actually sounds like a good idea to me, and would help alievate alot of the concern about unchecked justices.

Although it would require a Contitutional ammendment implement.

[floriduh voter]

Terri wanted to live. She said so as best she could before she started crying out of fright, right before they yanked out here feeding tube. That makes everything that you copied and pasted MOOT.

[dirtboy]

Terri wanted to live. She said so as best she could before she started crying out of fright, right before they yanked out here feeding tube. That makes everything that you copied and pasted MOOT.

If you're going to make a legal argument against Greer, you're gonna need more ammo than that. And, once again, I vehemently disagree with what happened to Terri. But if it is going to be prevented from happening again, we need an accurate assessment of what went wrong, instead of a few snippets from the Florida Statutes that were clarifications and not prohibitions or hard law.

[floriduh voter]

I'm not attempting to try Judge Greer's impeachment here on Free Republic. It's not up to me to pull the facts together. I'll let the feds do it. They act like they money to burn.

[Sun]

Special ACTION Alert:
CAPITAL SWITCHBOARD TOLL FREE: 1-866-808-0065 (last wk).
You are encouraged to call your Senator today. Please ask them to back the "Constitutional Option." The Capitol switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.
The Constitutional Option is a simple procedure designed to stop the obstruction of President Bush's judicial nominees and allow them to finally get up-or-down votes by the full Senate.
Stand with us as we Confront the Judicial War on Faith.
http://www.StopActivistJudges.org
FV SAYS: This advocacy group has many coalitions within it. They are really fit to be tied re: what the judicial system did to Terri. In addition, they are FED UP WITH THE NOMINEE FILIBUSTERING BY THE DEMS.
PLEASE PING YOUR LISTS. This group has lots of Texans in it.

[international american]

"but a politician under siege for alleged ethics violations "

Screw you Durst! I expected more from the Herald.

[AndrewC]

designated by the patient pursuant to part II unless the designation limits the surrogate's authority to consent to the withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures.

There was no surrogate. Terri did not have a living will(advance directive) so she could not have designated a surrogate. The proxy can make the decision only if there is clear and convincing evidence that would have been the wish of the incapacitated person.

[AndrewC]

Using the trend of laws in other countries to justify it strikes us as unreasonable indeed.

I had to rub my eyes. This is from a Boston newspaper!?

[Sun]

The liberal Dems who love to play the race card are fighting against Janice Roberts Brown, a share cropper's daughter. Can you imagine what the liberal Dems and the liberal news media would do with that if Republicans fought against a black judicial nominee?

[CHARLITE]

"The proxy can make the decision only if there is clear and convincing evidence that would have been the wish of the incapacitated person."

And Michael finessed that problem with ample collusion from Felos and Greer, by trotting in his brother and sister-in-law over 7 years after her "accident," and those closest to him made the sworn statements about Terri having said that she "didn't want to live that way."

I can accept that she could have said such a thing, but at the time, she was 21 years old and commenting on the condition of her aged grandmother who was "hooked up to tubes" (life support in reality, which Terri never needed).

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Sun]

You are welcome.

[Sun]

Tell your U.S. senators to vote to end filibusters for judicial nominees. If the main number is constantly busy,
you can find your own senators' phone numbers by clicking here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Also, please sign this petition.

https://www.aclj.org/Petition/

[planekT]

I will contact my Senators tomorrow. Seems like we are getting down to crunch time so it's a good time to let them know that they have our support on the rules change.

A lot of us Texans are proud to have Tom Delay saying what needs to be said right now. I have already called his DC office and let them know that he has my full support. Think I'll send him an email tomorrow and let him know that he STILL has my full support.

The democrats may want to drag this country down to hell with them, but I ain't going to let it go without a fight. No way.

Thanks for the ping Sun.