Patterico's Pontifications

3/24/2005

Schiavo Parents Back in Federal Court

Filed under: Schiavo — Patterico @ 9:00 pm



The other day, I said of the Schiavo parents’ lawsuit in federal court:

My preliminary impression is one of surprise at how technical, procedural, and weak some of the claims seem. This impression is strengthened upon reading the complaint submitted by counsel for the parents. I would argue that her right to life is being threatened, because there is insufficient evidence that she wished to end her life under these circumstances. I would argue that no one should die without having the facts of the case decided by a jury – something that cannot happen unless a TRO is granted.

Abstract Appeal reports:

It seems the Schindlers have now filed a Second Amended Complaint in federal court. It’s available here. The new complaint adds five claims to those that were originally raised. Count X is the truly interesting one. It alleges that Terri is being denied her right to life in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment because removing her feeding tube is contrary to her wish to live. That claim essentially says that the original trial reached the wrong result.

That sounds a lot like what I suggested. And the judge sounds interested:

Judge Whittemore entered an order today setting an aggressive briefing and hearing schedule. You can read the order here. He asked the parties to file legal memoranda addressing the injunction request with respect to count X — for the Schindlers to do so by 3 pm and for Michael to respond by 5 pm. The hearing will be tonight at 6 pm.

The media seems unaware of the possibility that there could be a new injunction in the next 24 hours.

UPDATE: Via commenter Reliapundit, we have this report from local Florida TV, saying the judge expects to issue a decision in the morning. With the right argument now being made, don’t be shocked if an injunction issues. I can’t say I’m expecting it, exactly, but it could happen.

UPDATE x2: It didn’t.

4 Responses to “Schiavo Parents Back in Federal Court”

  1. […] mplaint, raising five new claims and seeking an injunction with respect to those claims. (Here is my initial post about that complaint.) Judge Whittemore&#8 […]

    Patterico's Pontifications » A Legal Argument Why the Federal Courts Should Have Granted the Schiavo Injunction (0c6a63)

  2. i pray you’re right.

    news of this is NOWHERE ELSE.

    reliapundit (7a5d49)

  3. found this on local Fla TV:

    “U.S. District Judge James Whittemore previously rejected a similar request and said Thursday he would work overnight to issue a new ruling.”

    http://www.11alive.com/news/usnews_article.aspx?storyid=60800

    reliapundit (7a5d49)

  4. Patterico,

    I e-mailed you (not from the above address) about a claim of perjury. Did you see that, and do you think it’s relevant?

    See-Dubya (d4b07d)


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