2008 Woodie Awards
GOP Leaders Split on Judiciary's Role in Schiavo Case
The recent Terri Schiavo case causes much debate and controversy among GOP leaders.
James Kuhnhenn/syndicated writer/krt campus
Issue date: 4/8/05 Section: News
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Tuesday that federal judges gave the Terri Schiavo case "a fair and independent look," distancing himself from other Republicans who contend that the courts' refusal to keep the brain-damaged Florida woman alive is evidence of an out-of-control judiciary.
For example, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the third-ranking Senate Republican, on Tuesday accused the federal judge in the Schiavo case of "violating the law" by not ordering that Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted. Schiavo, whom several doctors had diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state, died last Thursday after 13 days without food or fluids.
The differing views from two top Senate Republicans illustrate the tensions in their party as Congress approaches a potentially explosive debate over the Senate's role in confirming President Bush's federal judicial nominees and, more broadly, over the very independence of the judiciary.
The debate reveals a split between religious conservatives, who sought congressional intervention in the Schiavo case, and small-government Republicans, who generally resist expanding the federal role.
Last week, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said federal judges "thumbed their nose at Congress and the president." He warned: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today."
Other Republicans said such rhetoric was counterproductive.
"I think that's pretty dangerous ground to even think about," Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said about comments such as Santorum's and DeLay's. "I'm not a party to that, and I think those comments are not helpful."
Still, Republicans _ conservatives in particular _ increasingly are accusing judges of making political decisions, circumventing legislative decisions and ignoring the public.
On Monday, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, delivered a half-hour Senate floor speech denouncing a Supreme Court decision that limited the death penalty to convicts 18 or older. He began by suggesting that recent cases of violence against judges may be rooted in their lack of accountability.
For example, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the third-ranking Senate Republican, on Tuesday accused the federal judge in the Schiavo case of "violating the law" by not ordering that Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted. Schiavo, whom several doctors had diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state, died last Thursday after 13 days without food or fluids.
The differing views from two top Senate Republicans illustrate the tensions in their party as Congress approaches a potentially explosive debate over the Senate's role in confirming President Bush's federal judicial nominees and, more broadly, over the very independence of the judiciary.
The debate reveals a split between religious conservatives, who sought congressional intervention in the Schiavo case, and small-government Republicans, who generally resist expanding the federal role.
Last week, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said federal judges "thumbed their nose at Congress and the president." He warned: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today."
Other Republicans said such rhetoric was counterproductive.
"I think that's pretty dangerous ground to even think about," Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said about comments such as Santorum's and DeLay's. "I'm not a party to that, and I think those comments are not helpful."
Still, Republicans _ conservatives in particular _ increasingly are accusing judges of making political decisions, circumventing legislative decisions and ignoring the public.
On Monday, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, delivered a half-hour Senate floor speech denouncing a Supreme Court decision that limited the death penalty to convicts 18 or older. He began by suggesting that recent cases of violence against judges may be rooted in their lack of accountability.