Monday, March 28, 2005
HAS THE COURT WEAKENED ITS OWN AUTHORITY IN THE PROCESS OF KILLING TERRI ?
Oswald Sobrino offers an opinion:
When your victory is really a terrible defeat, it is called a pyrrhic victory. The judicial system has asserted its raw authority to kill an innocent person by cruel starvation. It is a short-term victory that will consume the authority, prestige, and credibility of the judicial system. Even liberal stalwarts Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader are saying on the cable channels that what is happening is wrong. Jackson made clear that law must be mixed with mercy to really be just. Nader made clear that a spouse in open concubinage cannot remain as guardian and sees the Schiavo debacle as a license for widespread euthanasia. Even David Boies, the lead attorney for Al Gore during the 2000 election controversy, has said on cable T.V. that Terri Schiavo has not received due process and that he cannot understand why the federal court has failed to conduct a de novo review of the case, that is, a review of all the issues from scratch. From all sectors of the American political continuum, people are beginning to call evil evil.
