Animal Farm.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Separation Of Powers: The Constitution says we have three co-equal branches of government. The Terri Schiavo case is the latest example of one branch thinking it is more equal than the others.

The attempt by Congress to extend to Schiavo the same right of access to federal courts that a convicted murderer on death row has, including the right to a new hearing based on new evidence, has been attacked in many quarters as a violation of the separation of powers and a political usurpation of judicial powers.

Echoing this opinion was Judge Stanley Birch. Writing for the majority in the ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denying the final Schindler family plea to reinsert Terri's feeding tube pending a full review of the evidence, he said:

"Despite sincere and altruistic motivations, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people -- our Constitution."

Sen. Rick Santorum has noted that the Constitution clearly gives Congress full control over the jurisdiction of the federal courts, including their very existence. Referring to an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge James Whittemore rejecting a request for emergency intervention, Santorum said: "What we asked for in the Congress was a new finding of fact. And this judge in this district ignored it, snubbed his nose at Congress, I think against the law."

Congress did not tell the 11th Circuit what to decide. What Congress asked for was a de novo review -- a full review of the evidence. And what the Schindlers argued before the 11th Circuit is Whittemore should have honored Congress' request and considered the entire court record and any new evidence, not just whether Florida ...