“In the more than seven years that the Terri Schiavo case has been winding through the Florida state and federal court systems, at least 10 judges have looked at the factual and legal issues surrounding the question of whether the severely brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube should be removed. Now, with the feeding tube removed on order from a state court judge and federal courts thus far refusing to intervene, the case has come down to very narrow legal points…

Experts say…the question is not about what Terri wanted, nor what Michael Schiavo wants, what the Schindlers want, what Congress wants or what the president of the United States wants. Like the lower federal courts that have already ruled in this case, the judicial inquiry is confined to whether Terri’s ‘due process was denied,’ explains Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at Duke University School of Law.

In other words, the issue is whether the courts have given due consideration to all the issues in the case.”

Mar. 24, 2005