Posted on 04/01/2005 4:19:40 PM PST by CHARLITE
Terri Schiavo's death is expected to have major political ramifications as pro-lifers declare war on the judiciary and galvanize for the coming fight over Supreme Court vacancies. "We will look at an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican. "We will look into that." The Rev. Flip Benham, director of Operation Rescue, lamented, "The courts of this land have become the tool, in the hands of the devil, by which the culture of death has found access." Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh bluntly blamed the judiciary for "ordering the starvation" of Mrs. Schiavo.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.washingtontimes.com ...
You BET we are mobilizing to change the laws and our Judiciary. Polly!!!REPORTING FOR DUTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P I N G
Aye, aye Captain!! Reporting for duty, SIR!
bump!
Well in the case of Terri Schiavo I don't see how they can impeach a judge, i.e., Greer, who followed the law.
I've already written to Frist, Elizabeth Dole (chair of the GOP Senate Campaign Comm.), her House counterpart, and the RNC, that I'm not giving the GOP one more dime until they break the Dems' filibuster on Bush's judicial nominations. I'm tired of lipservice.
Tom (Delay), did anyone in Florida ever prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Terri wanted to die if disabled severely? ... Sic the bastards, Tom! They (the rubber stamptroopers of judicial oligarchy) executed a disabled woman on grounds they wouldn't allow a mass murderer to be executed under.
Constitutional Option Bump!
Well, I'll ask you then, did anyone prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Terri wanted to die from whatever means if she was ever disabled? I'll wait for your proof if you think you can manage it.
"Well in the case of Terri Schiavo I don't see how they can impeach a judge, i.e., Greer, who followed the law."
It appears to me that Greer had an agenda. Now I am going to be totally self serving and say that only judges that share my agenda (pro-life, pro-morality) should be wearing the black robes. However, as things are right now, Greer cannot be impeached, but he should never be allowed to walk away without at least a severe reprimand - a resolution of the State's legislature?
There are thousands of FReepers. Aren't there? We MUST start a hootin' and a howlin' and force our representatives to pay attention to WE THE PEOPLE!
I personally want to energize Americans to this new reality, for our own secure future, and so that Terri Schaivo shall not have died in vain.
Char :)
well, see, the problem is - he followed his OWN law...sometimes, being a judge can cause one to fall victim to an occupational hazard for the field: perception of godhood
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!! Legislating from the bench. This creep no more followed the "LAW" !!!!!
NOt only did SICKO GREER NOT prove beyond a reasonable doubt, HE STOPPED EVERYONE ELSE too....it was on HIS JUDGEMENT that everyone else, all the way to the top said " Terri must die"!!!! NO JUSTICE WHATSOEVER.
and let me add also - even tho' he is legally blind, that doesn't give him the right to be blind to justice. Do you not think it odd that he would swallow Schiavo's word that - AFTER 7 years, and AFTER formerly testifying in court - when suing for millions, he had testified that he had no idea what Terri would want - that AFTER he got the millions of dollars "towards 50 years for her care" he suddenly remembers, Oh, yeah, she told me she wouldn't - so can I kill her now -
- you don't think it a little odd the judge wouldn't think this at least worth looking into, at least worthy of listening to others testimony to the contrary?
You think he was following the "law" when he thumbed his nose at the Congressional summons?
He should be arrested...certainly you or I would. Is he above the "law"?
"However, as things are right now, Greer cannot be impeached"
Ah, but here you are wrong.
What I am going to say is pretty brutal, and you're going to say "But it SHOULDN'T be that way!", and perhaps you might be right.
Nevertheless, it is true, and it keys off of your statement "as things are right now".
As things are right now, we have an extremely politicized government at all levels, including a politicized judiciary willing to exert the full measure of its power.
As things are right now, the fight is over politics, but it takes the form of strict legalism. That is what the judiciary invoked over and over and over again, at all levels, to adamantly refuse to give de novo review to the facts. They did not HAVE to, and did not WANT to for a variety of reasons, many of them to assert judicial authority and independence at the end. And so they didn't.
As things are right now, the standard is STRICT LEGALISM, not careful moralizing.
When you speak of impeachment as being something that 'cannot be done to Greer' right now, you are thinking morally. You are equating impeachment with criminal indictment, prosecution and punishment. And you are observing that Greer has followed the letter of the law. Therefore, you are concluding, although he's used the law evilly, he 'cannot' be impeached.
But you're applying the wrong standard.
Apply the standard of law, strict legalism, which is "the way things are" right now. THAT, after all, is that standard that the judiciary has set and applied, ruthlessly, to lock a woman up away from the people who want to help her, put armed guards around her, and kill her by thirst.
LEGALLY, impeachment is NOT a criminal process. It is a political process. What is a "High crime and misdemeanor"?
Not what the criminal code says. There is no public prosecutor here. A "high crime and misdemeanor" is whatever the legislature doing the impeachment SAYS it is.
That's it.
And what is necessary for conviction and removal from office?
Not "actual guilt". That is NOT the legal standard.
Rather, the vote of a certain constitutionally prescribed number of legislators in Florida. (Same thing for the US Federal government.)
Greer is impeachable and removable, as things are, on a strictly legalistic basis - WITHOUT any moral considerations - if a prescribed majority of the legislature says so. It does not MATTER if what they say he did is not an abuse of power under some criminal statute. The legislature is not bound by anything to apply a criminal statute to impeach a judge. The LEGAL STANDARD is: "A majority of us say you abused power, and a majority of us say that, because we say you abused power, you are hereby removed from office." That's it. Greer is no longer a judge. There is no appeal to any judiciary. The Legislature has the final rule.
Is that MONSTROUS?
"Monstrous" is not a LEGAL standard.
Is that WRONG?
"Wrong" is not defined in the impeachment clause.
It follows the process, to the letter, for the requisite majority to declare an abuse of power based on its own declaration and remove the judge.
If the Florida Legislature did that, Greer is impeached and removed even if he did NOTHING, because the Legislature says that he abused power, and they define what that is, and nobody can review them. Period. That is the law.
The judiciary just used precisely that approach to murder Terri Schaivo. (I use the word "Murder" advisedly. The Vatican said that it was a murder, and I define my moral standards based on the Vatican, therefore, it was murder in my book.) "We say what the rules are, and based on what we say, she dies and we don't have to listen to anybody else."
The legislature can use the same logic to remove any judge for any reason. All it takes is the requisite number of legislators to simply assert the power to impeach based upon the power to impeach.
Is that WRONG?
Again, "right" and "wrong" CANNOT be the standard if we are going to adhere to the qualifier you imposed "as things are right now". As things are right now, right and wrong, good and evil, had NOTHING TO DO with any of the judicial decisions in this case. They asserted power. The legislature can do the same thing, and remove Greer for whatever reason they say they are removing him. Nothing can stop them. Nothing. No court. Nobody.
If they do it, he is gone. And it really doesn't matter if he is innocent or guilty of anything, because legally, that is totally irrelevant in impeachment. Impeachment is a political process, not a criminal process. There is no due process other than what the political branch that brings the charge and conducts the trial says there ought to be.
And that fits in rather perfectly with "the way things are right now".
First, per Ann Coulter's suggestion, have Congress pass a law that henceforth all judges must wear lime-green leisure suits in court.
The public is taking these clowns way too seriously. And the men in black robes have become legends in their own minds.
Here is the picture I want to see of ex-King Greer as they haul his corrupt a** away.
Impeach, recall, return to sender, whatever you want to call it... throw the bums out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.