The Schiavo Case

CONGRESS DOES NOT generally smile these days on the power of the federal courts to review alleged constitutional errors by state courts. In 1996 it imposed significant procedural barriers for inmates who want their claims examined -- even inmates who might face execution and those who might be innocent. The idea was that the national government should defer to state courts and not seek to micromanage their justice systems -- even in matters of life and death. Except, apparently, in the case of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state whom the Florida courts, after careful consideration, decided would not want to live under such circumstances. With Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube scheduled to be removed today, Congress sprang into action to pass legislation granting the federal courts the power to review the state court judgments that would let her die. (The Florida legislature is, for the second time, also acting to force her to continue living.) On Wednesday night the House of Representatives passed a bill to let "an incapacitated person" -- or someone who cares about him or her -- go to federal court whenever a state court "authorizes or directs the withholding or withdrawal of food" and when there is no undisputed living will. The Senate passed a narrower bill yesterday that would deal with Ms. Schiavo's case alone -- allowing her parents, who wish to keep her alive, a shot at the federal courts.

Both bills make a mockery of the professed conservative devotion to the sovereignty of states and the integrity of their courts. There is no great constitutional question to litigate here. Nonetheless, the broader House bill would create endless opportunities to involve the federal courts in heart-rending end-of-life struggles within families. And the Senate bill is nothing more than a warrantless intervention by the national legislature in a specific case that -- no matter how much members might dislike the result -- is no business of Congress. Yet Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) declared in a statement yesterday that he supports federal court review because, whatever the courts may have said, "when I see the videotapes of Terry Schiavo, it is clear she is conscious and has feelings."

The message to state courts is that they can do as they will with accused criminals and rely on federal law to shield them from review, but Congress will pull out the stops to overturn rulings -- however local -- that members don't like. That's not how the federal system is supposed to work.