Jonathan Turley: Arrogant Ignoramus

There's a law professor whom I'd never hire as my attorney nor allow to purport to teach me; here's the beginning of his article in LAT yesterday:

The scene in front of the Hospice House Woodside last week was something out of a Fellini film. On the orders of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, troopers rushed into the hospice and whisked away a helpless Terri Schiavo, taking her to a hospital where she again would be fed through a tube, against the wishes of her husband. The ambulance passed through wildly cheering crowds as the word spread that their side now had possession of the "body politic."

The framers of the Constitution spoke a great deal about the "body politic," the right of the represented to govern themselves in a democratic society. Though this term has taken on a literal meaning in the struggle over the body of Terri Schiavo, the Florida controversy has returned this country to a debate that raged in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. On one side, advocates have denounced the decisions in favor of Schaivo's husband as "judicial tyranny." However, the Legislature and governor's intervention in this one case raises the specter of a greater evil identified by the framers: majoritarian terror.

Left in a "persistent vegetative state"....

One needs to read no further. Anybody with a TV can learn right quickly that this "persistent vegetative state" assertion about Terri Schindler Schiavo has been a lie from the beginning. If a "law professor" doesn't know that much, why is he writing about this?

I did skim the rest of the article, but all I thought was I wonder why he cherry-picked these particular quotations, and what is the context from which he plucked them?

"Majoritarian terror"? Honestly, that sounds real good to me right about now. Why don't we give that a try for a while, for a real change of pace?

BTW, here we have another lawyer arguing for more power to lawyers judges.

(Thanks, Bill.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 10/28/03 10:51:00 AM
Categorized as Terri Schindler Schiavo.