Schiavo's Parents Left Out Of Battle Over Terri's Law

CLEARWATER - A conservative advocacy group was blocked Tuesday from joining the latest legal battle over the fate of Terri Schiavo.

The American Center for Law and Justice's request to intervene on behalf of parents Bob and Mary Schindler in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of what has been dubbed Terri's Law was denied by Circuit Judge Douglas Baird.

In a written ruling, Baird said the Schindlers "do not have a sufficient legal interest in the narrow subject of this litigation that would justify formal intervention."

However, the Schindlers and their new attorneys will be allowed to file what is known as a friend-of-the-court brief, the judge ruled. That way they still can try to defend the constitutionality of Terri's Law, Baird said.

"The question regarding the manner of their participation is more one of form than of substance in this instance, since there are no significant factual issues to be developed that might be impacted by their presence as a party," Baird wrote.

The judge has said he plans to rule on the constitutionality of Terri's Law based solely on written briefs, the last of which are due this week.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the Virginia-based American Center for Law and Justice, said his team of lawyers is considering whether to ask Baird to reconsider, appeal his decision or take his advice and file a friend-of-the-court brief.

"We believe the Schindlers should be permitted to be involved directly in a case where the outcome may well determine if Terri lives or dies," Sekulow said.

The decision to bar the Schindlers from formally joining the fight over Terri's Law could be crucial down the road, said Pat Anderson, the St. Petersburg couple's lead attorney.

"It is the difference between being a bystander shouting encouragement to the team and being on the field playing," Anderson said.

Baird was tapped last month to preside over a lawsuit filed by Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, after the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush stepped into what has been an almost 5 1/2-year family battle over whether Schiavo's feeding tube should be removed so she will die.

Schiavo has been in what some doctors term a persistent vegetative state since suffering heart failure in 1990 at age 26.

After a nonjury trial in January 2000, another judge ruled evidence showed Terri Schiavo made statements before she suffered heart failure indicating she would not want to be kept alive without hope of improvement.

The Schindlers dispute that and say their daughter reacts to them and could improve with therapy.

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed on court orders Oct. 15. It was reinserted on Bush's orders Oct. 21 after the Legislature passed a measure known as Terri's Law allowing the governor to intervene.

Michael Schiavo immediately filed the lawsuit now before Baird, alleging Terri's Law is unconstitutional because it violates his wife's right to refuse medical treatment and the separation of powers doctrine of the Florida Constitution.

In Tuesday's order, Baird pushed back the deadline until Thursday for briefs to be filed by defendants Bush and Attorney General Charlie Crist.