Schiavo’s parents appeal to U.S. Supreme Court

Parents see 'significant decline'
Florida lawmakers previously have failed to pass legislation that could have prevented the removal of the tube. They may consider another bill Wednesday, but state Sen. Daniel Webster said he has yet to persuade any lawmakers to change their votes.

In court documents, the Schindlers said their daughter began “a significant decline” late Monday.

“While she still made eye contact with me when I spoke to her, she was becoming increasingly lethargic,” Bob Schindler said in the papers. “Terri no longer attempted to verbalize back to me when I spoke to her.”

By late Tuesday, her eyes were sunken and her skin, lips and tongue were parched, said Barbara Weller, an attorney for the Schindlers. The hospice has refused to provide details about her condition.

Demonstrators who gathered outside Terri Schiavo’s hospice here decried the courts’ decisions. About a dozen people stood in front Wednesday to bring water to Schiavo, but police arrested most of them.

“This is a clear cut case of judicial tyranny. All the judges who have ruled against Terri are tyrants, and we fully expected this decision,” said Tammy Melton, a high school teacher from Monterey, Tenn.

For some, Congress ‘overstepped’
But Richard Avant, who lives down the street from the hospice, carried a sign reading “Honor her wishes.”

“We represent the silent majority, if you look at the polls,” Avant said. “We agree that Congress overstepped their bounds.”

Republican leaders in Congress refused to give up entirely Wednesday. In legal papers prepared for filing at the Supreme Court, they argued that the 11th Circuit had “failed to adhere to the plain meaning” of the emergency legislation.

The legislation required that a new, independent evaluation of her case be made, according to papers filed for House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and others. They said it also required the courts to “ensure that desperately needed nutritional support” is provided to Schiavo while the review is conducted.

Over the weekend, Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo’s life by allowing the case to be reviewed by federal courts.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore rejected the parents’ request to have the tube reinserted, saying they had not established a “substantial likelihood of success” at a trial on their claim that Schiavo’s religious and due process rights have been violated.

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