Terris Law struck down

last updated 8 January 2015

Tallahassee

The Florida Supreme Court last week unanimously struck down a law designed by Gov. Jeb Bush to keep a brain-damaged woman alive. The court said the law, which overrode several court decisions in the Terri Schiavo case, violated the state’s separation of powers doctrine. “What is in the Constitution always must prevail over emotion,” said Chief Justice Barbara Pariente. Schiavo is at the center of a dispute between her husband, Michael, who says Terri told him she did not want to be kept alive artificially, and her parents, who do not want to let her die. Bush is expected to appeal the ruling, and Michael Schiavo said he would not immediately seek to have the tubes removed. Terri Schiavo has been in a vegetative state since 1990.