Conservative judge blasts Bush, Congress for role in Schiavo case

[truthpusher]

Conservative judge blasts Bush, Congress for role in Schiavo case
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1 hour, 11 minutes ago
By Stephen Henderson, Knight Ridder Newspapers
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WASHINGTON - The latest rejection of the Terri Schiavo case by a federal court was accompanied by a stinging rebuke of Congress and President Bush from a seemingly unlikely source: Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., one of the most conservative jurists on the federal bench.

Birch authored opinions upholding Alabama's right to ban the sale of sex toys and Florida's ability to prohibit adoptions by gay couples. Both rulings drew the ire of liberal activists and the elation of traditional and social conservatives.

Yet, in Wednesday's 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to deny a rehearing to Schiavo's parents, Birch went out of his way to castigate Bush and congressional Republicans for acting "in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for governance of a free people - our Constitution."

Birch said he couldn't countenance Congress' attempt to "rob" federal courts of the discretion they're given in the Constitution. Noting that it had become popular among "some members of society, including some members of Congress," to denounce "activist judges," or those who substitute their personal opinions for constitutional imperatives, Birch said lawmakers embarked on their own form of unconstitutional activism.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/krwashbureau/20050331/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_braindamagedwoman_legal_wa_1

[HockeyMom]

1. Daddy,

What WERE you thinking when you appointed this guy? ROFL

[rodeodance]

6. well, Birch is on Jr's shit list that is for sure (and Santorium and Delay

and other 'congressional activists" !!1

[TaleWgnDg]

34. hey, hey, hey . . .

________________________________________________________

The Right to Privacy includes both
A Woman's Right to Choose, and
The Right-to-Die-with-Dignity

Keep the Government OFF our bodies and OUT of our bedrooms !
________________________________________________________

.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Take that, you meddling Chimp

And you call yourself a conservative. Hah. What a load of propagannon.

[rodeodance]

3. ts current average rating is 5.00 with 4 vote(s).

[Pirate Smile]

13. Now it is an average rating of 5.00 with 28 votes.

[rox63]

4. Go to the link

And vote this story up. It only had a few votes when I was there.

[CoffeeCat]

5. What's that "whoooooosh flip flip flip flip" sound I hear?

Oh that's right.

It's Bush's house of cards falling.

...back to regular programming.

[MissWaverly]

15. have you heard all the Pentagon big chiefs are leaving

Soon Rummy will have no one to talk to, there's only a war on, how about extending enlistments for the big guns. Oh, No, of course not.

[peacetalksforall]

7. I fear that criticism coming from everywhere will cause Bush and

the cabal to take revenge or accelerate their constitutional reform plans.

Even the Birch statement will not make them see the truth.

[salin]

8. WOW.

speechless.

[tishaLA]

9. Who has a link to Birch's ruling, please?

I saw it earlier but I misplaced it

[UpInArms]

21. link here

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/krwashbureau/ts_krwashbureau/storytext/_bc_braindamagedwoman_legal_wa/14636046/SIG=11tmf7dus/*http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200511628reh2.pdf

pdf doc

[tishaLA]

26. Thanks!

[Erika]

10. Government does not belong in family matters

and the 11th Circuit Court is one of the most conservative courts in the nation. The Bush boys were both instrumental in trying to write laws specifically for the purpose of usurping judicial decisions based on a single case. That IS unconstitutional and the two of them are guilty of interfering with our free government and the rights of citizens. They wanted to grow government. Nor am I happy with the role D.C. democratic Senators played in the expansion effort.

Laura, Stepford wife, Bush stated again today that the government definitely belongs in these types of issues.

[ngGale]

37. Sad day when Pickles has to...

speak for her husband. He doesn't have the nerve to face people himself - he can't take rejection.

[Fridays Child]

11. Kick and give it a five.

This article has the FR knickers in a twist but good!

[Pirate Smile]

12. Liberal, Centrist,Conservative - doesn't matter - ALL Judges HATE this.

[JDPriestly]

14. Michael Dorf

I liked this part:

Michael Dorf, a Columbia University law professor and constitutional expert, said he's not surprised that Republicans made an apparent exception to limited government in the Schiavo case.

"Republicans are not categorically against opening federal courts where they think that doing so would produce politically conservative results," Dorf said. "It's easier for a judge to stick by abstract principles than for a politician. The judge only has to answer to the limited audience for judicial opinions. The politician has to answer to voters, who don't generally draw those fine distinctions."

In the political realm, he said, "repeated instances of hypocrisy can become consistency."

[Just Me]

19. *LOL* ,...hypocrisy consistency. We CAN count on that. n/t

[MissWaverly]

22. how many critically ill people will now pound on the Senates door

looking for legislative solutions to their medical problems, they have opened the bottle and allowed the genie to escape.

[grumpy old fart]

16. The importance and wisdom of life tenure is again shown...eom

[u2spirit]

17. I'm sure Birch is going to be painted as "disgruntled"

eom

[Erika]

20. Birch is a strong conservative appointed by GHWB

He's not disgruntled, he's disgusted with this flagrant usurption of judicial power.

[Daphne08]

27. ...appointed by GHWB. Oh, Irony of Ironies!

[Just Me]

18. As in,..."dictators,...hope the door hits you hard,...on your way out!!!

Too bad the SOBs got away, TWICE, with STEALING an election.

EW! I cannot WAIT to CONSUME the fall of these unprincipled, power-mongering, EVIL butt-wipes.

,...i hear the human relief at their fall,...

[Erika]

23. This was a strong scolding to Bushs' & Congress

Done by a Republican appointed conservative judge. I think this might stop and make the Bush boys' and congress think before they try future antics.

[S_B_Jackson]

24. Much as it pains me to say this...

Judge Birch is wrong & I think that he needs to re-read Article III of the US Constitution, paying particular attention to Section 2.

Congress has been granted an express power in the Constitution to do as they did in the Schiavo case. However, just because they had the authority to do it doesn't mean that they didn't show themselves to be craven jackals by involving themselves in this matter.

I will work to see that the Rethuglican Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, is defeated in the 2006 elections. The Bugman has got to go!

[Erika]

25. That section gives "general control" to the oversight by

Congress of judicial organization. It gives no control to congress over its decisions.

Judicial decisions stand alone and not under the control of Congress.
Judge Birch blistered the Bush boys and Congress in a way they badly needed.

[S_B_Jackson]

28. That section does a great deal more than that...

I didn't say that Congress had control over the decisions rendered by the judiciary.

However Birch is contending by crafting a law which gave jurisdictional authority to the federal courts to conduct a de novo hearing that Congress was exceeding its Constitutional powers. Judge Birch is patently and obviously WRONG.

ARTICLE III, Section 2

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;-- between a State and Citizens of another State;--between Citizens of different States;--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

Hey, I appreciate that Birch tore the * administration & the Rethuglican Congress a new one...but I wish that in doing so, Birch had been correct in his assessment of Congress' authority in this regard.

In using their authority in this case, Congress was so horribly wrong that it makes me shudder to consider it & I will work to see that the Morrison is successful in his next bid to exterminate the Sugarland cockroach.

[Erika]

29. Bush & Congress were trying to usurp judicial independence

by rewriting laws to avoid the decision of law reached by the judges.

Each and every court, 24 of them, has slapped the hands of the Bush boys and the Congress in this case. What is pathetic is that the Bush boys and Congress tried to usurp the judicial system and its decisions. That IS unconstitutional.

[S_B_Jackson]

31. The point is that Congress was acting wholly within its powers

under the US Constitution.

I'm delighted and more than a bit surprised given the conservative nature of the 11th Circuit that they chose to ignore the permission given to the federal courts to conduct a de novo hearing & they chose to restrict themselves to an appellate review of the findings of all previous courts. They federal courts didn't want this case, and they gave Congress & junior the finger!

As the saying goes, "hard cases make bad law" and the Schiavo case(s) would seem to be the poster case for this truism. Just because Congess has the power, doesn't mean that in this case they should have used it. But the fact remains that Birch's proclamation that Congress acted outside of it's authority is not accurate.

[Erika]

33. Birch is a judge appointed by GHWB, are you?

Congress does not have the power to overturn judicial decisions by enacting laws for specific cases and Birch took them to task for it.

Birch was right in tanning their butts and I doubt if we'll see more histrionics from the Bush boys and Congress, including the DC Democratic Senators.

[zipplewrath]

43. One thing missing

Where in the list does it say that congress has the authority to give the court jurisdiction over disputes between citizens of the same state?

[nonconformist]

30. Nominated

Excellent. I was hoping a judge would have the guts to say what they're all thinking right now... and how glorious in that it's one of "their boys" that did so.

[NYC]

32. Current rating 4.88.

You have given the news article Conservative judge blasts Bush, Congress for role in Schiavo case a rating of 5.

Its current average rating is 4.88 with 121 votes.

[NVMojo]

35. edited, I finally got the screen to open to this site ...

This is good news, one way or the other!

You have given the news article High Court Rejects New Schiavo Request a rating of 5.
Its current average rating is 2.89 with 659 vote(s).

[paineinthearse]

36. 11th circuit decision

http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200511628reh1.pdf

[rodeodance]

38. Federal Judge (Birch) Condemns Intervention in Schiavo Case

I am waiting to hear the response from Frist, bush et al.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/national/31schiavo.html?th&emc=th

Federal Judge Condemns Intervention in Schiavo Case

By ABBY GOODNOUGH and WILLIAM YARDLEY

Published: March 31, 2005

PINELLAS PARK, Fla.,



......The 11th Circuit court's decision, signed by Chief Judge J. L. Edmondson, was only a sentence long. But in a concurring opinion, Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., appointed by the first President Bush in 1990, wrote that federal courts had no jurisdiction in the case and that the law enacted by Congress and President Bush allowing the Schindlers to seek a federal court review was unconstitutional.

"When the fervor of political passions moves the executive and legislative branches to act in ways inimical to basic constitutional principles, it is the duty of the judiciary to intervene," wrote Judge Birch, who has a reputation as consistently conservative. "If sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow."

Judge Birch said he had not had time before now to consider the constitutionality of the law, which Congress passed and Mr. Bush signed before dawn March 21, because of "the rapid developments and sensitivities in this case." The 11th Circuit court considered and rejected several appeals from the Schindlers last week after Judge James D. Whittemore of Federal District Court in Tampa denied their motions.

In particular, Judge Birch wrote, a provision of the new law requiring a fresh federal review of all the evidence presented in the case made it unconstitutional. Because that provision constitutes "legislative dictation of how a federal court should exercise its judicial functions," he wrote, it "invades the province of the judiciary and violates the separation of powers principle."

David J. Garrow, a legal historian at Emory University who closely follows the 11th Circuit, said Judge Birch's opinion was striking because the judge was a conservative Republican, especially regarding social issues. Judge Birch wrote the ruling for a three-judge panel of the court last year unanimously upholding a Florida law that prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children.......

[democrank]

39. Perhaps the Schiavo case

as sad as it is, will begin to highlight the radical differences between true conservatives and the the fascist theocrats now in power.
I`m hoping more Americans will start to wake up and recognize the dangerous road we`re traveling.

[okoboji]

40. most are still

fast asleep....

here is a mini editoral from my local newspaper this morning....

"Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty can no longer be given to anyone under the age of 18, regardless of how many people they have blown away. Yet our same legal system has in effect sentenced Terri Schiavo to death simply because she cannot feed herself. Have we gone completely mad?" - Jerry Wendt, Le Mars, Iowa

[demo dutch]

41. Seems as though the court took the case to blast government

by taking the case this final time it gave the judge a voice to do so.

Anyway Terri passed an hour ago... here's the link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7293186/

[rodeodance]

50. smart move I would say

[Blue_Roses]

42. unbelievable--the voice of reason

from a conservative judge :spray: Santorum and Delay must crapping in their pants about now...

See, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus :rofl:

[primavera]

44. Interestingly, freerepublic.com doesn't say a word about this...

...not so much as a peep. Go figure, huh?

[moondust]

45. Impulsive, meddling federal government.

:sarcasm:
I'm sure that's what the Constitutional Convention had in mind.

[Callboy]

46. nice blast on

[ClintonTyree]

47. Well this activist "Conservative" Judge.............

is going to have to answer to the "bugman", Tom Delay now. Delay has declared war on those Judges who uphold the law and guard the Constitution against fascists like himself. He's in REALLY big trouble, boy. :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

48. Just goes to show

that these guys are far less concerned about the issues at hand than they are about the prospect of losing an iota of power. And they all want more control. Greedy schweinhunds.

[rodeodance]

49. Its current average rating is 4.04 with 432 vote(s).