Supreme Court Refuses to Save Terri Shiavo

There is an old saying, "Hard cases make bad law." But it is hard not to weep openly considering the case of Terri Schiavo - a woman whose brain was damaged when her heart stopped temporarily and whose parents and husband are now in a legal tug of war over whether to keep her alive or to pull out her feeding tube and let her die. The husband claims his wife never wanted to live this way. The parents claim she is alive, alert, and not a vegetable. Lots of legal briefs have been filed over this. The last two moves in the chess game were Florida Governor Jeb Bush's law that forced the feeding tube to remain, and the Florida Supreme Court's decision to rule the law unconstitutional. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of that ruling.

The Supreme Court refused Monday to reinstate a Florida law passed to keep a severely brain-damaged woman hooked to a feeding tube, clearing the way for it to be removed. How soon that would happen, however, was unclear...The Florida Supreme Court had struck down the law last fall, and the justices were the last hope for state leaders who defended the law in a bitter long running dispute over the fate of Terri Schiavo...The case goes back to state Judge George Greer, who already has ruled that the brain-damaged woman's husband could withdraw her feeding tube. Although several legal challenges are pending, the Supreme Court was considered the best hope to stop the removal of the tubes.

It appears that time is running out for Terri Schiavo. I'll be praying for her. I don't know which outcome is most consistent with the law, but I have a feeling I know which is most consistent with justice. Here's hoping the two coincide.