# It's the Feds turn for a whack at Terri Schiavo **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015 "2005-03-17T18:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Guy\_Incognito\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito_1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/201 "2005-03-21T18:46:02Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > I’ll also wager that the Law of Unintended Consequences will rear its unexpected head, when death row convicts start petitioning for federal review of their cases on the basis of this law. Congress just shit on states rights, and it will become virtually impossible to execute death row inmates without involving the federal courts. Come to think of it, that’s not a bad thing from my perspective, but it will serve to clog our courts even more than they already are. A scary thought, but unlikely. Again, as cowardly as this tactic may seem, the measure passed by Congress was a private relief bill; it applies only to the Schindlers, and only in this case. It empowers no federal review of state legal determinations in any other matter whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/202 "2005-03-21T19:53:22Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > It may be expected but it’s not realistic. They are harming their daughter by not being realistic. She has no hope of recovery. Pretending that her random gestures and moans have meaning is not going to change that. Well, I don’t really see how they are harming her (since there’s really no “her” left to harm anymore), but otherwise we are pretty much in agreement. I just wanted to point out that the parent’s grasping at straws is perfectly understandable from a psychological point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/203 "2005-03-21T22:52:49Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > This is OT, but the latest edition of the New Yorker has a great article about the school district in California that was accused of refusing to allow the Declaration of Independence to be taught d/t it’s references to the Creator etc. I’d love to see what would happen if some teacher taught the Declaration of Independence with a **real** discussion of the “…right of the people to alter or abolish it…” clause… ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/204 "2005-03-21T23:28:09Z")
> [@Guy\_Incognito](#): > > A scary thought, but unlikely. Again, as cowardly as this tactic may seem, the measure passed by Congress was a private relief bill; it applies only to the Schindlers, and only in this case. It empowers no federal review of state legal determinations in any other matter whatsoever. Isn’t the fact that an exception was made in the first place the problem? Now everyone will go begging for personal exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/205 "2005-03-22T11:13:17Z")
This just in: **Federal Judge Denies Request to Reinstate Feeding Tube** Nothing online yet. Next step: federal appeals court. And so it goes. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/206 "2005-03-22T11:25:09Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > This just in: > > **Federal Judge Denies Request to Reinstate Feeding Tube** > > Nothing online yet. [Here ya go](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7254897/). Although I am disturbed by the obvious pro-Schindler bias of msnbc, I am not surprised by it. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/207 "2005-03-22T11:28:17Z")
Oh please, pleeeeeeeeease let it be over soon… ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/208 "2005-03-22T11:39:12Z")
Nah, the parents will appeal to the 11th circuit court of appeals in Atlanta, but without the injunction Terri may pass on soon. I don’t understand the objections to letting her die. Her parents are Catholic, and argue that Terri, as a devout Catholic, would want to live. But doesn’t that just keep her out of heaven longer? Or do her parents not believe in the afterlife as much as they claim too? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/209 "2005-03-22T11:49:34Z")
Elsewhere in the news, [Judge orders woman’s feeding tube to be reinserted](http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=32095). I’m too tired and disgusted to make up my mind on whether to go with a “Dewey Defeats Truman!” joke or a nerdier, but perhaps more apropos, Schrodinger zinger. (It’s just an editor’s error, by the way. Don’t scream yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/210 "2005-03-22T11:53:39Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Nah, the parents will appeal to the 11th circuit court of appeals in Atlanta, but without the injunction Terri may pass on soon. Hey, catch me up on this. All the news reports are starting to blend together in my mind, so I’m unclear on why a court in Atlanta has any jurisdiction in this. > [@](#): > > I don’t understand the objections to letting her die. Her parents are Catholic, and argue that Terri, as a devout Catholic, would want to live. But doesn’t that just keep her out of heaven longer? Or do her parents not believe in the afterlife as much as they claim too? I Googled Karen Ann Quinlan the other night (I was comparing her case to this, and Mr. Rilch didn’t get the reference). Good thing I did, because I’d been misremembering some key facts in the case, including that Quinlan’s parents were the ones who wanted her **taken off** the respirator, reasoning that it was god’s will for her to die naturally. I had to read that twice, because I can’t recall another time I’ve heard someone cite god as a reason to **un** complicate things! The Schindler’s objections may be based on the idea that removing the feeding tube is assisted suicide. Suicide is a huge sin to Catholics (at least before Vatican II; that may have changed). It just boggles my mind, though, when people drag god into medical issues that wouldn’t **be** issues if nature really took its course. Like the multiple-births mother in Texas a few years ago, who refused to have two of the fetuses aborted so the others would have a better chance at survival. It wasn’t god’s will, she said. If it was god’s will for her to get pregnant without fertility treatments, she wouldn’t have been having a multiple pregnancy. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/211 "2005-03-22T12:03:51Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Hey, catch me up on this. All the news reports are starting to blend together in my mind, so I’m unclear on why a court in Atlanta has any jurisdiction in this. The next level is the court of appeals; this court serves the 11th circuit, which includes Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The appeals court is based in Atlanta. (Information is [here](http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/).) Robin ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/212 "2005-03-22T12:06:08Z")
I see. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Guy\_Incognito\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito_1)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/213 "2005-03-22T13:25:49Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Isn’t the fact that an exception was made in the first place the problem? Now everyone will go begging for personal exceptions. Begging to Congress, perhaps, but not to federal court. I mean, I suppose one could argue that Congress’s actions are problematic in that they set a precedent for individuals who feel they’ve been denied constitutional protections in non-criminal matters to petition Congress for a private relief bill - but I doubt that will be a problem for Congress. Its selective attention skills have become quite honed of late. As for the federal courts, however, again I don’t see any precedent that would set a long-term problem. The only problem I see is the possibility of a short-lived trend of a few pro-se petitioners filing motions with titles like “Motion for a Terri Schiavo Court Thingy” and winding up with a face full of courthouse door. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/214 "2005-03-22T15:55:29Z")
[The reaction from the White House](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=603591&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312): > [@](#): > > The Bush administration “would have preferred a different ruling,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters in Albuquerque, N.M., where the president was visiting a senior center. Presumable, one not based on a strict interpretation of the law, but rather one based on the emotional politics whipped up by the Republican Party to appeal to the party core. ---
**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 23, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/215 "2005-03-23T02:10:29Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Elsewhere in the news, [Judge orders woman’s feeding tube to be reinserted](http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=32095). > > I’m too tired and disgusted to make up my mind on whether to go with a “Dewey Defeats Truman!” joke or a nerdier, but perhaps more apropos, Schrodinger zinger. > > (It’s just an editor’s error, by the way. Don’t scream yet.) Huh? The article said the exact opposite-that her feeding tube was NOT going to be reinserted. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/216 "2005-03-23T02:24:04Z")
Hence his “Dewey Defeats Truman” comment. 😉 ---
**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 23, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/217 "2005-03-23T02:36:11Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Hence his “Dewey Defeats Truman” comment. 😉 Did the headline originally say something else? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/218 "2005-03-23T02:40:15Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Did the headline originally say something else? I’m guessing it must’ve. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/219 "2005-03-23T03:26:59Z")
Yup, I cut & pasted the headline directly for the hyperlink. I guess I should have counted on it being fixed as soon as they got some sleep over there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015/220 "2005-03-23T16:34:18Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > As for the GOP, I think they know _exactly_ what they’re doing. The measure passes, it gets challenged, it gets thrown out on its ass. And why does it get thrown out? Not because it’s asinine on the face of it. No sir! It’s all because of [cue scary music] _activist judges!_ Yep, gotta get rid of them left-leaning activist judges! Hey, with any luck we can drag this out till we can use it as an issue in 2006!\* Right on schedule: > [@](#): > > “This is a clear-cut case of judicial tyranny,” said Tammy Melton, 37, a high school teacher from Monterey, Tenn. from this [AP article](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=6&u=/ap/20050323/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman_49), titled “Jeb Bush Renews Call to Help Schivo” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-feds-turn-for-a-whack-at-terri-schiavo/295015.md?page=12)