The legal wrangling over the fate of Terri Schiavo appears all but over, with the U.S. Supreme court declining, for the fifth time, to take her case.
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Schiavo parents’ appeal (CNN)
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Thursday an appeal by the parents of Terri Schiavo to have their severely brain-damaged daughter’s feeding tube reinserted. The court, without comment, refused to intervene after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals twice Wednesday turned down a plea from the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
The fate of Terri Schiavo is also in a waiting stage on another front — the Florida circuit court where the judicial wrangling began seven years ago.
Schiavo’s parents and her husband have been at odds over the woman’s care, and the battle has drawn in religious conservatives on the side of the Schindlers to fight Michael Schiavo’s efforts to let his wife die, as he says she wanted. Twenty court rulings have sided with Michael Schiavo, who as husband is also guardian. The courts have ruled that evidence shows Terri Schiavo expressed her wishes, although she did not have a written living will.
The Supreme Court petition was given to Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has jurisdiction over emergency appeals in cases arising in the 11th U.S. Circuit, which includes Florida, where Terri Schiavo lives in a hospice. It was the fifth time the case has been presented to the Supreme Court, which has consistently refused to hear it. Most recently, on Friday, lawyers for the House of Representatives filed an appeal asking the justices to intervene in the case. The appeal was denied without comment.
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On the Florida front, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer has said he will rule by noon Thursday on the latest effort by Florida officials to intervene in the case. Greer had ordered Schiavo’s tube removed last Friday, after seven years of court battles between the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo. The issue now before Greer involves allegations that Terri Schiavo may have been abused by her husband.
Given that Greer has already ruled these new allegations “incredible,” this case is over from a legal standpoint. Presuming that Jeb Bush doesn’t follow Rusty Shackleford’s advice on this one, a safe bet, it’s over from a political one as well.
