Senator Seeks Accountability of Judges in Schiavo Case
"We cannot continue to expect that the laws that we pass and the intentions are clear, that are just simply ignored by the judges and have their nose, basically thumb their noses at us," Sen Rick Santorum, (R-Pennsylvania) said Tuesday, demanding that two judges who ignored the Congressional legislation and federal subpoenas issued in the Terri Schiavo case should be held accountable.
Although Congress had met in an extraordinary session Palm Sunday and passed a bill that would have allowed the parents of Terri Schiavo to have their case reviewed de novo in the federal courts, U.S. District Court Judge James Whittemore of the Middle District of Florida in Tampa twice rejected Terri’s parents in their efforts to keep their daughter alive.
Santorum said that the intent of Congress was clear that the feeding tube of the disabled woman be reinserted while the federal courts conducted an entire review of the prolonged case on its merits.
He said he has talked with other members of Congress about conducting an inquiry into the actions of the two judges—Whittemore and Sixth Judicial Circuit Court probate judge George W. Greer.
Terri’s feeding tube had been removed March 18 by order of Greer who ordered her death by starvation and dehydration at the request of her estranged husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo who claims she wouldn’t want to be kept alive by assisted feeding. She is now in her 13th day without food and water, a living testimony to her will to live.
“For this judge in this district to ignore that is tantamount, I believe, to an offense that should be discussed in the Congress”, Santorum said. “What we asked for in the Congress was a new finding of fact and this judge in this district ignored it, snubbed his nose at Congress, I think against the law. I think he should be held accountable for it”.
Whittemore had denied the request of Mary and Bob Schindler Sr., Terri’s parents, for an injunction to reinsert the feeding tube while the case was reviewed by the federal courts, saying that the Schindlers hadn’t demonstrated a “substantial likelihood of success” on their arguments that Terri had been denied her constitutional rights----her life and liberty interests.
Although he didn’t name him, Santorum also had high criticism for Greer for ignoring federal subpoenas issued by the House Government Reform Committee summoning Terri, her estranged husband and guardian Michael Schiavo, two physicians and administrator of Woodside Hospice where she resides to testify before the committee at a congressional hearing on March 28. The subpoenas had been issued to keep her alive until she could appear before Congress but Greer quashed them.
Federal law protects witnesses called before Congress “from anyone who may obstruct or impede a witness’ attendance or testimony”. However, Judge Greer chose to defy the federal orders, allegedly in contempt of Congress.
He said members of Congress had returned to Washington from their Easter break “for one reason, so the feeding tube could be reconnected and a trial, a new trial with new evidence, could be presented but yet both Whittemore and Greer ignored the Congressional actions.
President Bush had signed the bill, saying that “in cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life”.
Knowledgeable governmental sources told The Empire Journal that no county or state judge including Greer has jurisdiction to override and ignore a federal subpoena and such action was “very unusual”. Legal sources say that Greer has acted in contempt of Congress and in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution which provides that everyone, including George Greer, must follow federal law in the face of conflicting state law.
theempirejournal.com |
