Runaway Judiciary
We have not yet posted on the extraordinary measures being implemented to save the life of Terri Schiavo. Currently the US Senate, and US House of Representatives are in the process of passing a bill to force the case to be reviewed by a Federal Appeals Court.
We have found the article written by the Horse Race Blogger to be thoughtful, insightful, and covers the arguments fully here. The article entitled, The Schiavo Case and the Red-Herring of Judicial Supremacy, does a very thorough job of refuting the argument that Congress should not be involved. It is his contention, that the legislative branch has the power, and should exercise that power to over rule the judicial branch in this instance. Here is a small excerpt which should pique your interest in reading the entire article:
“You may not like any of this. You may not like the case that Schiavo’s parents are making. You may not like that Congress is acting. You may not even like the fact that Congress has the power to act. But, you likely agree that the tension between absolute rights and democracy is one which must be handled. This nation has decided that such contests be settled politically, by allowing the three branches to use their leverage over one another to get their way — rather than giving supremacy to any one branch. We are not Hobbesian, and this is not the Leviathan. If you have another solution that offers a different way to handle it, you should write your Congressman and ask him to draft an amendment to the Constitution itself that implements your alternative. You should not do as Michael Shiavo’s lawyers are doing — arguing that congressional involvement is somehow out-of-bounds, and that therefore the judicial branch is supreme. In our system, nothing could be further from the truth”
Another article concerning this case written by Andrew C. McCarthy appearing in National Review Online on Friday, entitled, Conservatives & Terri Schiavo. Mr McCarthy presents a persuasive argument that conservatives are not inconsistent in this instance. This is another article that should be read entirely for a complete understanding. The following is an excerpt:
“The facts of the Schiavo case are repugnant. ”Notwithstanding the Post’s insistence, it is not clear that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state (merely watching the video footage strongly suggests otherwise, and even the Post’s editorial does not endeavor to defend the manifestly inadequate medical examinations that purport to underpin the PVS diagnosis); nor is there convincing evidence that Terri, when she was stricken at 26 years of age, had even given much thought to whether she’d want to continue living in her current condition, much less expressly asserted that she would not.”
If we err in our approach concerning Terri Schiavo’s life, it is our hope to err in being overly zealous in protecting life.
