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Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin
In this case, the feds did step into a state case but in a different way from the cases back in the 1960s. In the Schiavo case, aside from the state legislature trying to intervene, the US congress actually stepped in and passed a law to try to prevent them from killing her. Florida ignored the law that the US Congress passed. I don't remeber the details and I'm too lazy to look it up but I remeber the US Congress actually did pass some type of law becasue they thought what was happening to Schiavo was such an injustice.
I agree with you guys that if she was going to be put to death, she should have been euthanyzed rather than dying of thirst.
I don't care what any of you guys say. I'm no right-to-lifer or anything like that and I thought that what they did to that woman was one of the most outrageous things I have ever seen.
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And you know what; in more research, I'm wrong about the legal path-- the law Congress passed demanded the case be taken out of state court and handed to a federal judge. Who declined to overturn the state courts numerous decisions on the case. And then the Supreme Court refused to hear the case (twice in one week, six times since 2001).
Here's the pertinent part on the decision:
"The Supreme Court's rejection came hours after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, rejected the parents' petition 9-2. That court denied three similar requests from the parents last week.
In a concurring opinion of the Atlanta court's latest ruling, Judge Stanley Birch said Congress "chose to overstep constitutional boundaries" by passing a law to force the Schiavo case into federal courts. "
In the end, I think it was the right decision, legally. Her husband was her legal guardian, and he was the one with the legal right to decide what her wishes would have been. But, regardless, it sure serves as a warning to all of us to get our own wishes about our care in such situations down on paper, doesn't it?