WSJ: justices sent Congress a clear message on judicial independence

[question everything]

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Schiavo Appeal

By JESS BRAVIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 25, 2005; Page A4

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court, in denying an appeal to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, sent Congress a clear message on judicial independence: Whatever may divide them in judicial philosophy, the justices are united in defending the prerogatives of their branch from the intrusions of another.

The court's one-sentence order, issued 12 hours after Mrs. Schiavo's parents filed their petition, gave no explanation for rejecting the case and didn't disclose how each of the nine justices voted. The case over restoring the feeding tube to the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman was the focus of a law Congress passed in a rare Palm-Sunday session, intending to supplant years of state-court proceedings with a new trial before a federal judge.

Instead, the high court effectively endorsed every lower-court decision in the case, letting stand Wednesday's 10-2 ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that upheld a federal district judge in Tampa, Fla. In a ruling Tuesday, he found no legal basis to overturn state-court proceedings that led to the disconnection of Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube a week ago. Doctors have projected that Mrs. Schiavo could survive through the end of the month without food or water.

The case comes at a time of increasing tension between the courts and the two elected branches of government. In recent years, judges have rebuffed congressional efforts to limit their discretion in sentencing criminal defendants and have rejected Bush-administration arguments that the treatment of enemy prisoners lies outside judicial review.

(snip)

Write to Jess Bravin at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111167187141388718,00.html