Parents Take Schiavo Case to High Court
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — Terri Schiavo's parents went to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday in a desperate attempt to keep their daughter alive, after a day in which a federal court in Atlanta turned away their appeals and Florida lawmakers decided not to intervene.
One other legal avenue was made available, when Gov. Jeb. Bush petitioned to have Schiavo placed in state custody.
Bob and Mary Schindler said that their severely brain-damaged daughter, whose feeding tube was removed by court order Friday, was fading.
"She has to start getting hydration; if she doesn't, she's not going to be with us much longer," Bob Schindler said. The Schindlers' lawyer, David C. Gibbs III, said they were watching her "skin crack, her nose bleed." He said Schiavo was having "pangs of hunger and thirst."
In their high court brief, the Schindlers said that Schiavo's constitutional rights to due process and religious freedom had been violated. They also contended that the extraordinary law allowing federal courts to review the matter -- passed by Congress and signed by President Bush earlier this week -- indicated that lawmakers had intended for the tube to be reconnected while the issue was being reexamined.
The emergency appeal was filed with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who oversees the Southeast region; he almost surely will send it to the full court.
The case is certain to get attention from the justices, if for no other reason than the unusual congressional action. Most legal experts assume the high court, like two lower courts, will decide that Schiavo has had the full due process of law required by the Constitution.
But the justices could decide that because Congress called for a new review, they should order the reattachment of Schiavo's feeding tube while they consider the handling of her case.
In Pinellas Park, dozens of protesters maintained a vigil outside Woodside Hospice, where the 41-year-old Schiavo was being cared for. Authorities arrested 10 people -- including three children -- who allegedly tried to enter the facility in a symbolic attempt to bring her cups of water.
"It's the least I can do. I have experience with starving and dehydration, as I was in a prison camp in 1945," said Eva Edl, 69, of Aiken, S.C. Edl said she was separated from her parents at the end of World War II and interned in Yugoslavia. "I'm alive today because someone brought me food and water and I was later able to escape."
