Next Stop: Supreme Court

And for those of you who think that the Supreme Court wasn't an issue in this past election, take heed now.

A federal judge here today refused to order the reinsertion of a feeding tube for the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo, despite the intervention of Congress and President Bush in the case, The Associated Press reported.

Judge Dames D. Whittemore of Federal District Court said the 41-year-old woman's parents had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" at trial on the merits of their arguments, the agency said.

The tube was disconnected on Friday on the orders of a state judge.

After two hours of tense and often emotional arguments on Monday, Judge Whittemore refused to rule immediately on whether to restore nutrition to Ms. Schiavo, whose husband won a state court's permission to remove her feeding tube. Judge Whittemore also expressed doubts about whether a federal review could change the ultimate outcome and seemed skeptical of the parents' contention that the state courts had violated Ms. Schiavo's right to due process.

Now, this isn't the end of Judge Whittemore's review, and it's starting to look increasingly like Terri Schiavo may die during his deliberations, making the whole point moot except as a precedent, which may be the point. (I'll let the legal scholars among us weigh in in the comments.)

But you can bet your life (no pun intended, though if the shoe fits...) that whether Terri Schiavo lives or dies, this case is going to the Supreme Court.

Patrick Gudridge, a law professor at the University of Miami is quoted in a Christian Science Monitor op-ed piece as saying, "It would appear to be the kind of legislative grandstanding that Chief Justice Rehnquist, if he were up to speed and in good health, would swat away in an instant."

Chief Justice Scalia, however, would adjudicate far differently, as would most, if not all, of the extremists George W. Bush has waiting in line for Supreme Court vacancies.