Now Who's Out of Touch?

It seems that Republican legislators, many of whom supported the law allowing federal courts to hear arguments regarding Terri Schiavo and the removal of her feeding tube, are upset at the judicial system for not ruling the way they wanted them to. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has lambasted the judges involved in this case for not interpreting the Terri Schiavo law the way that Congress intended for it to be interpreted. I was under the impression that it is the judicial branch of government whose job it is to interpret laws, not the job of the legislative branch of government. If Congress dictates to the courts how exactly to interpret laws, we might as well get rid of the judiciary altogether. Santorum is of course now calling these judges “activist” judges. This seems to be the term that conservatives like to throw around when courts do not rule in their favor, especially when their rulings do not seem to follow the beliefs of a large portion of Americans. In this case, however, it seems to be these Republican legislators who are out of touch with what the American people believe. A FOX News poll taken yesterday shows that 54% of Americans feel that removing Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was an act of mercy, not an act of murder. Only about one third of those polled feel that way. Even looking at just Republicans, a majority of those polled, 61%, do not feel that removing the feeding tube is murder. Hopefully this case will encourage people to make sure their wishes on the matter of what measures should be taken to sustain their lives are in writing and very clear, so that we do not have a situation like this happen again.