Published October 17, 2003, on AmericanDaily.com
Handing down wacky rulings seems to be in vogue right now in judicial circles. It’s almost like a game, with Americans as the spectators. Which court can garner the most media attention from its extremist rulings? Which justice can ring the chimes of the New York Times op-ed writers the most? Which judge can parade his or her blatant judicial activism without showing the slightest qualm or fear of repercussion?
Most of them can, unfortunately, and most of them do. I give you two examples.
In a September announcement, Florida probate Judge George Greer marked October 15 as the date to begin the starvation death of Terri Schiavo, a 39-year-old brain damaged woman who depends on a feeding tube for sustenance since she cannot swallow on her own. Aside from Terri’s brain, her bodily functions are physically stable. She receives no life support or respiration. She responds to communication and recognizes her family.
Basically, she’s a human being worthy of life.
But not according to her husband, Michael Schiavo, who has maintained that she is in a “persistent vegetative state” and therefore deserving of execution by one of the most inhumane methods possible: starvation. Meanwhile, Mr. Schiavo hasn’t let his wife’s condition interfere with his all-important life, taking in a live-in girlfriend and having a child by her. Oh, and he has plenty of cash thanks to his wife’s condition as well – $1.3 million from a successful malpractice lawsuit.
If a pet cat or dog were scheduled for death by slow starvation, the outcry from PETA and its liberal friends, including the media, would be deafening. But apparently human life is no longer valuable to liberals.
Terri’s parents submitted a plea to establish federal jurisdiction over the case, but their hopes were gunned down by U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara who claimed he didn’t have authority to pass such a ruling.
That’s one of the rare times you’ll see a federal judge pass up a chance to flaunt his judicial muscle. Naturally, we never see that type of judicial discipline when it comes to pro-sodomy and unconstitutional affirmative action laws – only when a human life is at stake.
Lazzara remained adamant in his ruling despite a plea from Governor Jeb Bush to keep Terri alive. If the current schedule is kept, Terri could be dead within two weeks.
This is only one case in the growing canon of judicial debauchery.
In August of 1990, an Illinois woman named Elizabeth Ehlert delivered a baby daughter in her bedroom unaided. According to reports, the baby cried for two seconds before Ehlert placed her in a garbage bag and tossed her into a creek behind her house.
A jury found Ehlert guilty of murder in 1995, but the conviction was reversed under the supposition that the prosecution presented “irrelevant and highly prejudicial evidence” regarding two abortions Ehlert had had previously. Despite this setback, Ehlert was convicted again by a bench trial.
But the judiciary thrust out its strong arm again and the murder conviction was overruled, this time by Illinois Circuit Court Judge Karen Thompson. Obviously, Judge Thompson has a very warped view of what murder is.
When stories like the two outlined above become everyday news items, is there any doubt our courts have run amuck? The game they’re playing is real, and they have no notion or inclination to call the game quits. Where, indeed, have all the good judges gone?
In effect, a convicted murderer is going scott free just so a few judges can feel satisfied about their protection of privacy and the so-called right to an abortion. Where does the buck end? If trends continue in this direction, why bother with abortion at all? Just deliver the child and then destroy the life. Why waste time with the elderly and the physically and mentally disabled; like Michael Schiavo, we’re got lives to live and don’t want the burden of the weak on us.
Has America descended to the evil state of Hitler’s Germany?
Not quite yet.
But when definitions of when life begins and ends come from the arbitrary caprices of humanistic judges and not from our Creator, we’re getting frighteningly close.