Tue, March 22, 2005
I was pleased to see that the flurry of Congressional activity didn't manage to cloud the mind of U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore – he's refused to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube back in. It's a difficult situation, and certainly nobody's happy to see her die, but she deserves peace. And it's important to look beyond the emotional component and just look at the actual law – which says the guardian makes his/her best judgment about what the patient would have wanted in the absence of a living will. Not the Pope. Not the president.
Whittemore's decision, paraphrased, was: Listen, we've been over this and over this. Every time, the answer comes back the same. It's time to stop bickering and just accept it.
Well said.
(And I do mean "over this and over this" – and then some: Schiavo timeline via Kung Fu Monkey)
Update: Spectacular insight from Slate on the matter: Activist Legislators
"Christi Kruse" — Tue, 3/22/05 7:54pm
You can bet your sweet bippie that Judge Whittemore is thankful for that lifetime appointment, or wait, do you have that at the District level?
Someone check that for me.
If it isn't a lifetime appointment, I guess we will see if this "independent judicirary" is just an other governmental myth to be busted by the Bush Administration, much like the "separation of chuch and state."