Thomas Sowell argues that the clear meaning of the law Congress passed to help save Terri is being ignored by the courts:
When a case goes up to a higher court on appeal, the issue before the appellate court is not whether they agree with the merits of the decision of the lower court. In a criminal case, for example, the issue before the appellate court is not whether the defendant was guilty or innocent, but whether the trial was conducted properly.
In other words, the defendant is not supposed to be tried again at the appellate level. So, no matter how many appellate judges rule one way or the other, that tells you absolutely nothing about the fundamental question of guilt or innocence.
Similar principles apply in a civil case, such as that of Terri Schiavo. Liberals can count all the judges they want, but that does not mean that all these judges agreed with the merits of the original court’s decision. It means that they found no basis for saying that the original court’s decision was illegal.
What the law just passed by Congress did was authorize a federal court to go back to square one and examine the actual merits of the Terri Schiavo case, not simply review whether the previous judge behaved illegally. Congress authorized the federal courts to retry this case from scratch — "de novo" as the legislation says in legal terminology.
That is precisely what the federal courts have refused to do. There is no way that federal District Judge James Whittemore could have examined this complex case, with its contending legal arguments and conflicting experts, from scratch in a couple of days, even if he had worked around the clock without eating or sleeping.
Judge Whittemore ignored the clear meaning of the law passed by Congress and rubberstamped the decision to remove Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube.
As dissenting Judge Charles Wilson of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals put it, the "entire purpose of the statute" is to let federal courts look at the case "with a fresh pair of eyes." But, by the Circuit Court’s decision, "we virtually guarantee" that the merits of the case "will never be litigated in a federal court" because Terri Schiavo will be dead.
I think the courts are circling the wagons down there. For whatever reason Darth Greer wants this woman dead, the other judges probably view Congress as mucking about in their swimming pool and therefore are acting to shore up the power of their courts. But Congress is the body that defines the federal courts’ jurisdiction. Check-and-balance football is being played while a life is being extinguished. I’m so frustrated that I can’t see straight not only at the inability of the legal system to protect this woman’s life, but its active dedicated attempts to ensure that she dies. Something must change.
The case bodes very ill for the prospects of our nation’s ability to survive. Of course, it’s not just this case, but the way it helps focus the magnifying glass on what is wrong with us as a nation, and what is wrong with our government on every level. It remains to be seen whether the centrifugal forces threatening to rip this nation apart and bring the government down in a heap of legalistic rubble can be overcome — and it is to be doubted whether anyone should shed tears when this nation self-destructs, seeing that our cannibalistic treatment of the innocent and the helpless is sowing the wind and will surely bring a cyclone come harvest time. It’s only a matter of time now.
No, there is a lot of good… great… things about this country that deserve praise and emulation and conserving. But, as with any individual, there are faults. We have a couple of trend-lines going in the wrong direction that must be changed. But this country is not being and should not be ripped apart. Certain institutions need reforming, and I’m not sure how that’s going to come about at this point. But the world would become a much darker place if there’s no US in it.