Why Schiavo is a cause célèbre

Senate leader Bill Frist, a surgeon, said that "From a medical standpoint, I wanted to know a little bit more about the case itself," so he reviewed the 2001 tapes on which the case was based. "Scores of neurologists have come forward and said that it doesn't look like she is in a persistent vegetative state," he said last week.

GOP leaders in both houses describe this case as having to do with the "culture of life" theme expected to be central in the 2006 congressional races. "Their gamble is that the general public will be divided on the issue and will not vote on the subject come 2006, but that the Republican-base ... group of conservative Christians will remember this vote forever," says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Meanwhile, while individual Democrats have spoken out strongly against congressional intervention in this case, their leadership, which Republicans describe as "very cooperative," has stayed out of the debate. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has supported "pro-life" positions, including votes against abortion rights. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi spoke with Speaker Dennis Hastert from her travels in Egypt.

Still, some Democrats tried to rally their party to defeat the measure. "The tragic and complicated matter is only made more difficult with congressional intervention," said Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.

Congress's move to elevate this case to federal courts comes as Republicans and Democrats are ramping up for a battle over the process for confirming judicial nominations. It also follows a bipartisan vote to move many class-action cases out of state courts, dubbed by some Republican lawmakers as "judicial hellholes," into federal courts.

The Schiavo case is already one of most extensively litigated right-to-die cases in history. Mr. Schiavo began court action to remove his wife's feeding tube in May 1998, eight years after she fell ill. Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has ordered the feeding tube removed three times. In 2003, the Florida legislature passed a bill to reinsert it, a move later ruled unconstitutional, setting in motion the current legislative battle.

Should a bill on Schiavo pass the Congress and be signed by the president, as expected, the case still faces judicial review - and a ticking clock. Last week, the Supreme Court rejected without comment a House committee's emergency request to order the feeding tube reinserted while appeals were pending.

"It would appear to be the kind of legislative grandstanding that Chief Justice Rehnquist, if he were up to speed and in good health, would swat away in an instant," says Patrick Gudridge, a law professor at the University of Miami.

Page: 1 | 2