Terri Appeals to 11th Circuit in Atlanta

The denial of relief from the Florida federal district judge was no surprise. The telltale signs were there. First, the late hour of the hearing at 3 p.m. yesterday, which was extraordinarily unconscionable given that Terri has now been starving since Friday. Second, the even more unconscionable and cruel overnight delay in issuing a decision. Any lawyer will tell you that it is routine for a Temporary Restraining Order or "TRO" to be issued in circumstances that are far less serious than these in order to "freeze" the situation in place while the court examines the issues more closely. The district judge here inexplicably did not issue a TRO, but took, in my view, a cruelly languid approach to deciding the case.

In addition to the cruelly slow manner in which this court proceeded, we already knew from news reports that the district judge was a Clinton appointee. Put the failure to issue a TRO, the strange delay, and the Clinton background together, and it was clear that the decision would likely not favor Terri.

So it is no surprise that we are at the next step: appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals located in Atlanta (see CNN.com). This appeals court is the one that oversees federal courts in Florida and also in other nearby Southern states. From news reports, I gather that the 11th Circuit is already considering a constitutional argument on behalf of Terri. Pray that the 11th Circuit will issue an immediate stay to stop the starvation, while the legal issues are argued. We are all seeing up close on cable TV how our legal system works. It is not pretty.