Thread: Terri Schiavo's Death

The husband had gone through the state court system and got a favourable ruling (to his point of view).

GWB decided that the states courts ruling was wrong (or he would not have enacted a law to allow the federal courts to over-rule a state court).

Luckily the federal justices realised the importance of an independent judiciary and refused to overrule the state court.
No one likes to be told they are wrong....

Bottom line is that GWB tried and failed. This has interestingly put him in a no win situation. The 'right to lifers' are disapointed that he failed to save her. The others that he tried to overrule the court system for political points.

I don't believe that GWB is totally concerned with the right to life after the number of executions he ordered as Gov of Texas.

EDIT: I don't know how the court decided for the husband over the parents.

Originally Posted by Thantos

Um novacain congress and the president didn't overrule the courts. They gave the federal courts the ability to review the case. A bit of a difference.

Thankfully the federal courts basically said "We ain't getting involved"

By retrying the case so many times, it looks like they're shopping around for rulings, which essentially means they're trying to override it. That is the purpose of the appeals system, but I think it was abused in this case.

If a certain bill that is in Congress right now gets passed, this won't be an issue, though (it pretty much neuters the courts and takes away any idea of a checks and balances system)

> or he would not have enacted a law to allow the federal courts to over-rule a state court

AFAIK, this has always been the case. I doubt Bush did that.

> I don't believe that GWB is totally concerned with the right to life after the number of executions he ordered as Gov of Texas.

Interestingly, if Schiavo had been in Texas, she would have died quite awhile ago because of a bill Bush signed in 98 or 99.