# Anybody think Jeb Bush will just take custody of Schiavo? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197 "2005-03-25T13:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/21 "2005-03-26T01:39:14Z")
Given the situation described by the [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/national/25cnd-schiavo.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=1888c5d54ab20a4a&hp&ex=1111813200&partner=homepage) I doubt he would do such a thing. > [@](#): > > Tension grew on Wednesday, when Governor Bush suddenly suggested he might send state agents to force the reinsertion of the feeding tube. Judge Greer issued an emergency order barring the state from “taking possession of Theresa Marie Schiavo,” which the state appealed Thursday morning. > > That prompted Mr. Schiavo’s lawyers to rush back to Judge Greer, because under Florida law, judges’ orders are automatically stayed when a state agency appeals them. Mr. Felos said that technically, Governor Bush’s administration could have seized custody of Ms. Schiavo while a higher state court considered its appeal of the order. > > But Judge Greer moved quickly to lift the automatic stay, ensuring that state officials could not whisk Ms. Schiavo away before the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland acted. In a terse order, he wrote that “the executive branch is not superior in the area of judicial matters.” > > The higher court rejected the governor’s appeal later in the day, as did the State Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/22 "2005-03-26T03:31:02Z")
**puppymeister** , they really are that deluded. Not even realizing, I doubt she’d even be considered a good candidate for open heart surgery-she wouldn’t survive. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/23 "2005-03-26T03:54:42Z")
Legally Jeb could do so at a whim. As the chief executive of Florida he could seize her and put her in a State hospital under supervision and have her kept alive. A court could rule all kinds of nasty things in regard to this, but who enforces court decisions? The executive branch, and Jeb can just “not enforce it.” (This would all be moot if the Federal courts ruled against him, then a higher executive would have something to say about it) If Jeb was an old man and this was his last stop in politics I could see him doing it. But since he’s not there’s an important check that keeps executives from doing that, public opinion. His political career would _probably_ be over (though I’m sure some people would admire him for the action) and he’d face impeachment proceedings. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/24 "2005-03-26T04:19:35Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > Legally Jeb could do so at a whim. No. _Practically_, Jeb could defy the Florida courts, but in so doing he would be violating any number of laws, including, I would think, the state constitution. At least, I assume that it doesn’t exempt the governor from obeying the law. Even practically he might have a problem, if the forces at his disposal refuse to aid and abet him in breaking the law. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/25 "2005-03-26T05:13:06Z")
> [@jk1245](#): > > Yeah, I don’t think he’ll do it either. Say what you will about them, but the Bush boys seem politcally savvy enough to just do enough to placate the fundie wackos without actually going overboard and doing anything too extreme. > > Jeb will turn this into his martyr moment: “I tried to save that poor woman, but was thwarted by the evil liberals/activist judges/ anti-lifers/whatever. Vote for me in '08 and we can stop them” Oh course, the fact that most of the judges are Republican is ignored. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/26 "2005-03-26T05:22:15Z")
According to the Miami Herald, he was going to try it earlier today, but the local police told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that the judge’s rulings would be enforced. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11233240.htm](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11233240.htm) What scares me is the way that a number of news outlets seem to be trying to incite a riot. They’re almost daring someone to rush the hospice and “save” her. It also appears that a right-wing radio host named Hal Turner made statements earlier today advocating that the police guarding the hospice should be shot, and his website is now displaying the message: “Web Site Updates Temporarily offline. I am traveling to do something important.” Not to mention that a North Carolina man has already been arrested by the FBI for placing a $200,000 bounty on Michael Schiavo’s head, and a $50,000 one on Judge Greer. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/27 "2005-03-26T06:24:56Z")
I’ve said it before-this is turning into another Elian Gonzalez debacle. That happened during Easter week too, remember? Jesus save us from your followers. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/28 "2005-03-26T08:24:57Z")
I think much of the posturing by Republicans on the Schiavo case is merely lip service. I sincerely doubt they care much one way or the other if she lives or dies. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/29 "2005-03-26T16:03:44Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > What scares me is the way that a number of news outlets seem to be trying to incite a riot. They’re almost daring someone to rush the hospice and “save” her. It also appears that a right-wing radio host named Hal Turner made statements earlier today advocating that the police guarding the hospice should be shot, and his website is now displaying the message: > > “Web Site Updates Temporarily offline. I am traveling to do something important.” > > Not to mention that a North Carolina man has already been arrested by the FBI for placing a $200,000 bounty on Michael Schiavo’s head, and a $50,000 one on Judge Greer. That frightens me too. This is getting way out of hand. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/30 "2005-03-26T16:07:56Z")
Holy crap. Have you checked out [Turner’s](http://www.halturnershow.com/History.html) website? Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/31 "2005-03-26T16:28:33Z")
From: [this link](http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Police-force-Governor-Bush-to-abandon-Schiavo-rescue/2005/03/26/1111692683950.html?oneclick=true) (Sorry, registration required, but here’s the gist) > [@](#): > > Law agencies controlled by Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of US President George Bush, were on their way to seize Terri Schiavo and have her feeding tube reinserted. > > But they backed off when local police said they would enforce a judge’s ruling allowing the brain-damaged women to die, The Miami Herald has revealed. > > Soon after a judge ordered that Mrs Schiavo not be removed from a hospice, a team of Florida state law enforcement agents planned to rescue her on the orders of Mr Bush, the paper said. > > But they did not go ahead after it became clear they would have to confront local police outside the Florida hospice that has become a flashpoint in the worldwide debate on euthanasia. > > “We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they came, they were not going to get in,” a source with the local police told the paper. Looks like it came very, very close to Jeb intervening. And it ain’t over yet. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/32 "2005-03-26T17:55:19Z")
Here’s an open link… [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2270&ncid=2270&e=1&u=/krwashbureau/20050326/ts\_krwashbureau/\_bc\_braindamagedwoman\_seize\_exclusive\_wa](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2270&ncid=2270&e=1&u=/krwashbureau/20050326/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_braindamagedwoman_seize_exclusive_wa) ---
**Author:** ![melondeca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@melondeca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melondeca)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/33 "2005-03-26T17:59:19Z")
[Slight Hijack] I was watching the news at work yesterday and it got me thinking; would Terri Schiavo be able to recover from the dehydration she has suffered so far? She has been without food or water for eight days and I am curious as to the physical repercussions her body would experience if the tube were to be reinserted now. I am not trying to start another debate about her mental state or the political correctness of her death. This is just a question for curiosities sake. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/34 "2005-03-26T18:32:07Z")
> [@puppymeister](#): > > I thought that this was a very interesting article - read the whole thing at > > [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-locmiket25022505feb25.story](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-locmiket25022505feb25.story) Gruesome, sadistic and obscene doesn’t even come close. I would eat a bullet before facing that, and I would hope that if I couldn’t do it myself, someone who cared enough would do it for me. That’s sick and twisted. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/35 "2005-03-26T18:38:33Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > From: [this link](http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Police-force-Governor-Bush-to-abandon-Schiavo-rescue/2005/03/26/1111692683950.html?oneclick=true) (Sorry, registration required, but here’s the gist) > > Looks like it came very, very close to Jeb intervening. > > And it ain’t over yet. Three cheers for the local police. It looks like Jeb only respects the law when it does what he wants. He is using Mrs Schiavo to do some political posturing - against her best interests; he is displaying contempt for the law and the courts, and he is disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/36 "2005-03-26T18:53:21Z")
Frankly, to most politicians playing in the majors the law is good when it’s convenient and to be circumvented when it’s not. Always from the highest principles, of course. Here’s more for you… [From The Washington Post (3/26)](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3091-2005Mar26.html) So it looks like the posturing will continue. But the numbers are running 2-1 against both federal or state intervention in the case. But this is what gets me: > [@](#): > > The Florida governor, who is the president’s brother, is under intense criticism after failing to win court orders from Greer giving the state authority to take custody of Schiavo. Gov. Bush “must act and he must act immediately on her behalf,” D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries said in a statement Friday. “He must disregard the order of Judge Greer.” So what we have there is a man of God advocating anarchy. For God’s sake…are we a nation of laws or of men? And would these people know the difference? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/37 "2005-03-26T19:55:29Z")
Wonderful. A “man of God” advocating criminal activity. “These people” would not know the difference. They only know their way, law or no law. The saddest part is, they don’t give a damn about Schiavo, they just see her as a means to their own ends. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/38 "2005-03-26T20:08:21Z")
I’ve found this situation even more bizarre than the Elian Gonzalez saga. I live in California. We have a lot of strange things going on here, but how come Florida has become the flashpoint for seemingly every big legal and emotional disagreement of the past few years. How come nothing like this happens in places like North Dakota? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/39 "2005-03-26T21:17:47Z")
It’s all tied into the East Coast vs West Coast rivalry thing. Didn’t you get the memo? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197/40 "2005-03-26T23:03:30Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > It’s all tied into the East Coast vs West Coast rivalry thing. Didn’t you get the memo? I move we transfer Florida to the “South Coast.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-think-jeb-bush-will-just-take-custody-of-schiavo/296197.md?page=3)