Giving Schiavo a "habeas corpus" review doomed to failure.

[Inland]

The strategy taken in Congress was to give Schiavo--or rather her parents allegedly acting on her behalf--the same sort of federal court review that a state court criminal defendant gets, by giving the family the right to seek "habeus corpus" review.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Well, welcome to the world of the death row inmate. Habeas is a near-certian loser, a shot from half court at the buzzer with a hand in your face.

Our right wing friends in Congress and on the federal judiciary have been whittling away at the convicted's habeas corpus procedures for years. The arguments used to successfully restrict the procedures are easily enough understood: desire for finality after the trial and state court appeals are exhausted, respect for state court decisions and rules, and a suspicion that the cases are brought merely to delay the inevitable.

One wonders if the right wing, once again, has bought it's own propaganda. After hearing "questions have been raised" so many times, without the following truth that the questions were raised in state court and decided, they may have actually believed that no judge had actually considered any of the arguments or any of the evidence. And on appeal, they may be right. Schiavo may have missed some element of due process.

And do you know what she gets, if successful in the fed court? Again, welcome to teh world of the death row inmate. AT MOST, another hearing in state court in front of the exact same judges, with the exact same result.