A federal judge declined for now to order a feeding tube reinserted in Terri Schiavo, the brain- damaged Florida woman who has been in a vegetative state for 15 years.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore, after hearing arguments for about two hours in Tampa, gave no indication of how soon he may act on a request by Schiavo's parents to order the tube inserted.
"I will not tell you when, how or how long it will take," Whittemore said.
Today's hearing was prompted by an extraordinary post- midnight session of Congress aimed at authorizing the federal courts to intercede. President George W. Bush signed the measure early today.
Source: Bloomberg, HT: ThrownBack
Cross-posted on BlogsforTerri
Judge Whittemore is now in the position that Pontius Pilate was once in.
What will he decide? Death of an innocent person? Or will his hands be clean?
In these final days, please pray that if it should be death, that at least maybe the Lord will take away the pain of dehydration, and starvation. I don't know why we can euthanize animals, or save Bald Eagles but we can't save one person's life at her parents request.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. Professor Lawrence Tribe has been on the airwaves claiming the law passed this weekend was unusual in its required "de novo" requiremnt of the federal court to examine the case in its entirety and not be controlled by the state court findings.
This requirement is in fact identical with that established in the civil rights cases and the congress in the civil rights acts of the sixties. Tribe of course must know this so it is clear he lies to have his own facts and in this misleads others.