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Terri Schiavo: The First
Shot
in the Battle Against Judicial Activism
Government/Frank
Salvato, Managing Editor |
April 1, 2005
- The damage has been done. Terri Schindler Schiavo
has died. No legal wrangling, lobbying, protesting or moral epiphany can
change that. The time for considering action on Terri’s behalf has passed
and that can’t be rectified with the reinsertion of a feeding tube. Terri is
cold and lifeless. Perhaps now the realization of just how final the option
of death is will start to sink in. You can never go home.
There are many who want to make Terri’s death something other than what it
is.
Was it about the right-to-life versus the right-to-die? I’m sure it can be
argued to a certain degree of success that it was. On the one hand, we had a
young woman who was severely brain damaged and who may or may not have
expressed her desire to be given the ultimate relief if ever found to be in
such a position. On the other hand, she wasn’t on a ventilator and she
wasn’t terminally ill. She was a living, breathing, swallowing human being
whose only compromise was that she needed assistance in obtaining food and
water to survive.
Are those who expressed their outrage politically motivated? I doubt it. It
is clear to see that everyone experienced Terri’s death on an emotional
level. Those who took political action – or didn’t as the case may be –
literally put themselves in a no-win situation. Just about every poll taken
proved that there was no "winning” position on this issue. Everybody lost,
especially Terri. Most people understand this.
While both of these aspects of Terri’s life and death are catalyst for good
discussions on the ethics of politics and euthanasia, both together and
separately, there is a more disturbing issue afoot.
Terri Schindler Schiavo’s death is an American tragedy. It didn’t have to
happen. It highlighted the grotesque failures of our judicial system at
every level. It spotlighted the fact that those who practice judicial
activism and political positioning under the guise of following procedure
and precedent champion their own agendas over their sworn oaths to uphold
even the most basic of rights afforded us under the US Constitution, the
rights to life and liberty.
Many of the major judicial failures in Terri’s case emanated from the
courtroom of Judge George Greer. A former scandal-plagued Pinellas County
Commissioner, Greer monetarily coerced his way through an unopposed election
for Chief Judge of Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit. If Terri’s death
exposes only one scoundrel to the light of scrutiny it should be George
Greer.
Greer’s tenure presiding over the Schiavo case offered a plethora of
questionable decisions.
Why did he admit hearsay evidence as fact? Why did he assume the role of
Terri’s guardian in the face of a conflict of interest and against Florida
judicial canon? Why did he refuse to appoint a Guardian ad Litem for Terri
in light of Michael Schiavo’s compromised moral and ethical positions? Why
did he fail to enforce Florida law that would have provided Terri therapy
until her demise? Why did he allow Michael Schiavo to spend money designated
for Terri’s care on legal services designed to end her life? Why did he
allow Terri to be admitted to a hospice under false pretenses? Why did he
fail to order confirming MRI and PET scan evaluations? Why did he admit into
evidence the testimony of a biased medical panel some of whom were
right-to-die advocates? And why didn’t he recuse himself in the face of his
flagrant bias against the Schindler family when petitioned to do so?
These glaring transgressions against Florida law, US law and Florida
judicial canon should have sounded an alarm; instead they were upheld in
court after court after court.
An even more disturbing fact is that the federal judiciary – whether you
agree or disagree with how they came to be included in this case – refused
to even address the inequities of Greer’s court. Charged with reviewing the
case de novo, the federal judiciary did nothing of the sort. Instead they
engaged in a deadly game of indignance with the legislative and executive
branches of our federal government. They refused to hear arguments and gave
no cause. They played constitutional politics while a life hung in the
balance. Terri’s life clock clicked onward toward her hour of reckoning and
the tyranny of judicial activism donned the dark shroud of death.
America is at a important crossroads. If we are diligent in demanding that
the glaring injustice of judicial activism be addressed then we can say in
all honesty that Terri Schindler Schiavo, in her death, fired the first
significant shot in the battle against judicial activism. If we fail and
continue to allow the tyrannical conquest of judicial activism to abridge
our inalienable rights we have not only failed as a free people but our
country’s survival will be in question.
As the door to Terri’s earthly world closes We the People must recognize the
gift she has left behind, an opportunity to combat the crisis of judicial
activism on the national stage. It is appropriate that with her passing, and
very aptly in her name, the American people take on the challenge of ridding
our nation of this tyranny so that justice and morality triumphs over
activism and agenda.
In the end, the death of Terri Schindler Schiavo was about Terri, the woman,
the daughter, the sister, the friend. We should never forget that and we
should be grateful for the gift she left behind. Truly, she is a friend to
all of us. We the People have failed our friend once, we her friends can’t
afford to let her down again.
To the Schindler family I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences.
To Terri I wish a speedy ascent on angel’s wings. Rest in peace.
Related Reading:
Circuit Judge George Greer Biography
http://www.renewamerica.us/news/050325greer.htm
The Great Cooper's Point Land Scam!
http://www.thestraights.com/articles/coopers-point.htm
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