End of Day 5 - Jeb Bush and the Supreme Court
It's good to see the Letter to Governor Jeb Bush was sent. From the buzz on television Judge Greer has "set a trap" of some kind if the Governor follows a similar approach. It's right to assume that the people involved in killing Terri Schindler (I hate to say Schiavo!) have thought this out six ways to Sunday. But they weren't expecting the
incriminating evidence of Michael's willful and deliberate mistreatment of Terri to come out so soon, nor were they expecting to be challenged on the evidence at the 11th hour. Unfortunately their legal "case" is considered to be on sound legal footing.
But what if the evidence unwinding the "bulimia" fiction is mentioned to the Supreme Court, and they get - for the first time - the inkling that Michael was responsible for the whole incident? Would the argument that he was her "guardian" still hold water?
It's crazy if the law allows this to be the case. Once he is suspected they have to assume he had a strong motive to lie, and therefore his hearsay testimony would be treated as worthless if not mendacious and even more incriminating.
I hear that the Supreme Court has the affidavits of the nurses who treated Terri in the early years of her condition, and it is believed they will consider them. Hooray. If they decide to hear the case at all. (More than one nurse has some shocking things to say about Michael, and it's on the evidentiary record. He has admitted in the early days of her condition that he didn't know what Terri wanted with regards to life or death. Bingo! And we know she's a Catholic. The Pope has backed her up on that. ;)
The other side is making the argument that, since "we don't know the answer to that question yet, and in the meantime we don't know whether she 'would have wanted' (gimme a break!) to be fed or not, we have to err on the side of the status quo."
Which is no feeding tube.
It is believed the Supreme Court will see past those arguments on the grounds that they are a tautology. If the judge can control what evidence is presented, and he can get doctors to say whatever they want, then Terri is condemned to death by default. They are on to Judge Greer and his judicial malpractice too by the way (though whether they feel they can do anything about it is a different question). Not certain, but they may have the word that evidence was willfully overlooked by the judge, and this may sway the court to unwind the stack of litigation and consider the case in novo in light of the excluded evidence. (But can they reinsert the feeding tube to keep her alive while they argue it because of the technicality that Judge Greer and George Felos are counting on?)
If that's a possibility then here's what I'd like to see: IF the Supreme Court agrees to hear the "new" evidence (14 years old and newer ;), and Jeb Bush can lean on this to stiffen his spine significantly THEN Jeb Bush should stick his comfortable neck out, call their bluff, and take executive privilege for JUST the sake of reinserting Terri's tube and keeping her alive (he can wait for the rest until later). For he will have the will of the people behind him, against the judge's lame authority, at least once the news breaks in Big Media about what's been going on. Once the news leaks Jeb Bush will win the upper hand against Judge Greer, I'm convinced of it. It's an article of faith with me.
Keep in mind I'm not a scholar of the law. ;-)
incriminating evidence of Michael's willful and deliberate mistreatment of Terri to come out so soon, nor were they expecting to be challenged on the evidence at the 11th hour. Unfortunately their legal "case" is considered to be on sound legal footing.
But what if the evidence unwinding the "bulimia" fiction is mentioned to the Supreme Court, and they get - for the first time - the inkling that Michael was responsible for the whole incident? Would the argument that he was her "guardian" still hold water?
It's crazy if the law allows this to be the case. Once he is suspected they have to assume he had a strong motive to lie, and therefore his hearsay testimony would be treated as worthless if not mendacious and even more incriminating.
I hear that the Supreme Court has the affidavits of the nurses who treated Terri in the early years of her condition, and it is believed they will consider them. Hooray. If they decide to hear the case at all. (More than one nurse has some shocking things to say about Michael, and it's on the evidentiary record. He has admitted in the early days of her condition that he didn't know what Terri wanted with regards to life or death. Bingo! And we know she's a Catholic. The Pope has backed her up on that. ;)
The other side is making the argument that, since "we don't know the answer to that question yet, and in the meantime we don't know whether she 'would have wanted' (gimme a break!) to be fed or not, we have to err on the side of the status quo."
Which is no feeding tube.
It is believed the Supreme Court will see past those arguments on the grounds that they are a tautology. If the judge can control what evidence is presented, and he can get doctors to say whatever they want, then Terri is condemned to death by default. They are on to Judge Greer and his judicial malpractice too by the way (though whether they feel they can do anything about it is a different question). Not certain, but they may have the word that evidence was willfully overlooked by the judge, and this may sway the court to unwind the stack of litigation and consider the case in novo in light of the excluded evidence. (But can they reinsert the feeding tube to keep her alive while they argue it because of the technicality that Judge Greer and George Felos are counting on?)
If that's a possibility then here's what I'd like to see: IF the Supreme Court agrees to hear the "new" evidence (14 years old and newer ;), and Jeb Bush can lean on this to stiffen his spine significantly THEN Jeb Bush should stick his comfortable neck out, call their bluff, and take executive privilege for JUST the sake of reinserting Terri's tube and keeping her alive (he can wait for the rest until later). For he will have the will of the people behind him, against the judge's lame authority, at least once the news breaks in Big Media about what's been going on. Once the news leaks Jeb Bush will win the upper hand against Judge Greer, I'm convinced of it. It's an article of faith with me.
Keep in mind I'm not a scholar of the law. ;-)
posted by RD at 9:02 PM
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