Legal manueverings continue in Terri Schiavo case

Appeals court grants stay; ACLJ files appeal

Nov 19, 2003
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor

LAKELAND (FBW)—In a round of legal manueverings Nov. 14, the 2nd District Court of Appeal issued an indefinite stay after Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge Doublas Baird the same day ruled to lift a stay clearing the way for a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of "Terri’s Law."

Michael Schiavo, who filed the lawsuit against Gov. Jeb Bush, is the husband and gaurdian of Terri Schiavo, a 39-year old brain-damaged woman, who collapsed in 1990 and is at the center of a so-called "right-to-die" debate.

Gov. Bush signed into order a law ordering Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube re-inserted Oct. 21 — six days after the tube had been removed at Michael Schiavo’s request. He has been fighting with Terri’s parents for years to remove her source of nutrition [see related Witness stories at "Terri Schiavo: A life at stake."]

Michael Schiavo’s lawsuit against Bush contends Terri’s Law violates the separation-of-power provision of the Florida Constitution.

Nov. 5, attorneys for Gov. Jeb Bush filed a petition asking for the dismissal of Michael Schiavo’s lawsuit because Bush had never been served with legal notice that it should have been filed in Leon County instead of Pinellas County.

Schiavo’s attorney filed a motion asking the case to proceed and a judge withheld that motion Nov. 7, ordering Bush to file paperwork in his defense by Nov. 10.

Instead of filing the paperwork, the Gov.’s legal team filed an appeal with the 2nd Dictrict Court of Appeal--and received a temporary stay until the filing issues could be sorted out.

Nov. 14, after considering another motion from Schiavo’s attorney George Felos, Circuit Court Judge Douglas Baird lifted a second stay to allow the case to proceed.

Later that night the appeals court approved Bush’s petition and issued an indefinite stay—and turned the tables on Michael Schiavo, requiring him to have filed papers with the court by Nov. 18 to explain why his lawsuit should be "fast-tracked."

Pat Anderson, an attorney for Terri Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, said in a press release Terri’s "life continues to be threatened by those forces who want to see her die from starvation and dehydration.

"We are once again grateful that the Governor is doing everything in his power to protect Terri’s life," she added.

The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law, has asked to intervene in the case for the Schindlers.

After the Schindlers were initially denied involvement on the basis that they have no particular standing in the case, ACLJ attorneys filed a notice of appeal Nov. 14 involving both the refusal of the Pinellas County Circuit Court to involve the Schindlers, and the motion for a rehearing.

The ACLJ told Florida Baptist Witness it also will file a brief with the 2nd District Court of Appeal at a later date.

"We’re hopeful that the appeals court will grant the Schindlers the opportunity to present their position in this critical case as a direct party rather than through a friend-of-the-court brief," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ.

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