Palm Sunday Compromise
Encyclopedia
The Palm Sunday Compromise, formally known as the Act for the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo, is an Act of Congress
passed on March 21, 2005, to allow the case of Terri Schiavo
to be moved into a federal court. The name "Palm Sunday Compromise" was coined by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
, referring to it having been passed on Palm Sunday
.
All of the federal petitions and appeals of Terri Schiavo
's parents to maintain her life support were denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari
. In addition to this specific United States federal legislation, there was extensive other government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case
at the Florida
state and federal levels, none of which ultimately prevented the removal of her feeding tube.
of Senators Bill Frist
(R-TN), Rick Santorum
(R-PA), and Mel Martinez
(R-FL). The bill was received in the House of Representatives
at 9:02 p.m., and deliberation continued during the unusual Sunday session. When it came to a vote, the bill passed 203-58 (156 Republicans
and 47 Democrats
in favor, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats against), with 174 Representatives (74 Republicans and 100 Democrats) not present on the floor at the time of the vote. The vote concluded at 12:41 a.m. EST; President Bush
returned from vacation at his Prairie Chapel Ranch
in Crawford
, Texas
to Washington, D.C. and signed the bill at 1:11 a.m., when it became Public Law 109-3.
to review alleged violations of her constitutional
rights, without regard to prior state court rulings (a review de novo, effectively wiping out the previous decade of litigation). However, Congress did not attempt to create any new substantive rights for Schiavo, or include any provision requiring the federal court to order reinsertion of the feeding tube
pending review.
In practice, the act was completely ineffective. Like in state court, the parents' federal claims were denied, first by Federal Judge James D. Whittemore
, and then by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Finally the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari
, effectively bringing an end to the prolonged litigation.
" refers to the full court, not initial 3 judge panel.
Monday, March 21
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....
passed on March 21, 2005, to allow the case of Terri Schiavo
Terri Schiavo case
The Terri Schiavo case was a legal battle in the United States between the legal guardians and the parents of Teresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo that lasted from 1998 to 2005...
to be moved into a federal court. The name "Palm Sunday Compromise" was coined by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, referring to it having been passed on Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
.
All of the federal petitions and appeals of Terri Schiavo
Terri Schiavo
The Terri Schiavo case was a legal battle in the United States between the legal guardians and the parents of Teresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo that lasted from 1998 to 2005...
's parents to maintain her life support were denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
. In addition to this specific United States federal legislation, there was extensive other government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case
Government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches, of both the United States federal government and the State of Florida, were involved in the case of Terri Schiavo. In November 1998 Michael Schiavo, husband of Terri Schiavo, first sought permission to remove his wife's feeding tube...
at the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
state and federal levels, none of which ultimately prevented the removal of her feeding tube.
Passage of the Act
On March 19, congressional leaders announced that they were drafting a bill which would transfer the case from state court to federal court. In the early hours of March 20 and 21, Congress approved emergency legislation. The Senate first approved the bill (S. 686 CPS) on Palm Sunday, March 20, on a 3-0 voice voteVoice vote
A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....
of Senators Bill Frist
Bill Frist
William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...
(R-TN), Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum
Richard John "Rick" Santorum is a lawyer and a former United States Senator from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Santorum was the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference -making him the third-ranking Senate Republican from 2001 until his leave in 2007. Santorum is considered both a social...
(R-PA), and Mel Martinez
Mel Martinez
Melquíades Rafael Martínez Ruiz, usually known as Mel Martinez , is a former United States Senator from Florida and served as Chairman of the Republican Party from November 2006 until October 19, 2007, the first Latino to serve as chairman of a major party...
(R-FL). The bill was received in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
at 9:02 p.m., and deliberation continued during the unusual Sunday session. When it came to a vote, the bill passed 203-58 (156 Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and 47 Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in favor, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats against), with 174 Representatives (74 Republicans and 100 Democrats) not present on the floor at the time of the vote. The vote concluded at 12:41 a.m. EST; President Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
returned from vacation at his Prairie Chapel Ranch
Prairie Chapel Ranch
Prairie Chapel Ranch is a 1,583 acre ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, located seven miles northwest of Crawford. The property was acquired by President George W...
in Crawford
Crawford, Texas
Crawford is a town located in western McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is best known as the home of former President of the United States George W. Bush. He currently resides at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, which is located just outside Crawford, Texas....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
to Washington, D.C. and signed the bill at 1:11 a.m., when it became Public Law 109-3.
Provisions
The act applied only to the parents of Terri Schiavo — not Terri Schiavo herself — and gave federal courts jurisdictionJurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
to review alleged violations of her constitutional
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
rights, without regard to prior state court rulings (a review de novo, effectively wiping out the previous decade of litigation). However, Congress did not attempt to create any new substantive rights for Schiavo, or include any provision requiring the federal court to order reinsertion of the feeding tube
Feeding tube
A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to patients who cannot obtain nutrition by swallowing. The state of being fed by a feeding tube is called gavage, enteral feeding or tube feeding...
pending review.
In practice, the act was completely ineffective. Like in state court, the parents' federal claims were denied, first by Federal Judge James D. Whittemore
James D. Whittemore
James David Whittemore is an American judge presently serving in the Tampa division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He was previously a Florida state trial court judge, a federal public defender, and an attorney in private practice who won a criminal case before the...
, and then by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Finally the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
, effectively bringing an end to the prolonged litigation.
Criticisms
The act was criticized on several grounds.- The law did not pass the Senate before Bush signed it. A majority of Senators (i.e., 51 of the 100) is required to obtain a quorum, and only three senators out of 100 were present when the bill was voted upon. However, the Senate (and the House) conduct their respective businesses under the presumption that a quorum is always present, unless or until a completed quorum callQuorum callA quorum call or call to quorum is a parliamentary procedure used to summon absent members of a deliberative body if a quorum is not present. Since attendance at debates is not mandatory in most legislatures, it is often the case that a quorum of members is not present while debate is ongoing...
or roll-call vote demonstrates otherwise (e.g., a roll-call vote or quorum call in the Senate failing to get 51 total votes or replies).
- The law applied to only one individual. Comparisons were drawn with bills of attainder, which are specifically prohibited by the United States ConstitutionUnited States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. While some saw this as a legally flawed analysis since bills of attainder take away individual rights rather than bestow them, the rights of Michael Schiavo, as Terri's guardian, to make decisions on her behalf were stripped away. Additionally, some argued that creating laws tailored for specific individuals is bad legislative practice as it means that other people in similar situations do not get relief, thus denying them equal protectionEqual Protection ClauseThe Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"...
. However, private bills--bills specifically directed at a particular person or persons—were extremely common in the U.S. Congress, such that Rule XV of the Rules of the House of Representatives establishes a calendar that provides for the consideration of private bills on the first and third Tuesdays of every month.
- The law was a violation of the separation of powersSeparation of powersThe separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
. Many commentators argued that Congress had exceeded its powers by substituting its judgment for that of the courts and directing the courts on how to proceed. This argument was addressed by Judge Stanley Francis Birch in a highly critical concurrence to the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Middle District of Alabama...
, given on March 30, 2005. Judge Birch, a juristJuristA jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
, declared that:
-
- If the Act only provided for jurisdiction consistent with Article III, the Act would not be in violation of the principles of separation of powers. The Act, however, goes further. Section 2 of the Act provides that the district court: (1) shall engage in “de novo” review of Mrs. Schiavo’s constitutional and federal claims; (2) shall not consider whether these claims were previously “raised, considered, or decided in State court proceedings”; (3) shall not engage in “abstention in favor of State court proceedings”; and (4) shall not decide the case on the basis of “whether remedies available in the State courts have been exhausted.” Because these provisions constitute legislative dictation of how a federal court should exercise its judicial functions (known as a “rule of decision”), the Act invades the province of the judiciary and violates the separation of powers principle.
-
- An act of Congress violates separation of powers if it requires federal courts to exercise their Article III power “in a manner repugnant to the text, structure, and traditions of Article III.” By setting a particular standard of review in the district court, Section 2 of the Act purports to direct a federal court in an area traditionally left to the federal court to decide. In fact, the establishment of a standard of review often dictates the rule of decision in a case, which is beyond Congress’s constitutional power. http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/33005ca11rhrng2.pdf
- The law failed to create any substantive rights. The law enacted by Congress only obliged the federal courts to review the rulings of the Florida state courts to determine if procedural due process had been afforded. However, there was no serious argument that the Florida courts had violated any constitutionally mandated procedural requirements. Congress could have specified in the statute that the bill sought to enforce a substantive due processSubstantive due processSubstantive due process is one of the theories of law through which courts enforce limits on legislative and executive powers and authority...
right to life, enacted pursuant to section five of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, the social conservatives who championed the legislation have been reluctant to rely on the rights created under this provision, as it has also been interpreted by the Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
as providing the underpinning for the right to abortionAbortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and for refusal to receive life-saving medical assistance.
- Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
while on the campaign trail to the Presidency, twice expressed regret for having allowed the Senate to adjourn by unanimous consent, which then made it possible for a handful of senators to introduce the bill. In the Democratic primary debate on April 26, 2007, he characterized his failure to object to the Senate's adjournment as his biggest professional mistake and that the Senate deliberations "left the Senate with a bill that allowed Congress to intrude where it shouldn't have."
Cases and decisions
Some PDF files may be large and take time to download; alternate links provided in case one site is down or slow; "En bancEn banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
" refers to the full court, not initial 3 judge panel.
- Petition for Federal Relief by Terri's Parents, with "Jury Trial Demand" (PDF file) March 21, 2004 (filed before Federal "Palm Sunday Compromise" Bill passed into law)
- Text of the "Palm Sunday Compromise" bill (HTML page) Signed into law by President George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
on March 21, 2005 - Statement of Interest by United States in Schiavo case (PDF file) March 21, 2005
- Opinion by 11th Cir. Denying Terri's Parents petition for TRO (case No. 2005-11556) (PDF file) March 23, 2005
- Opinion by 11th Cir. Denying 2nd & 3rd Amended petitions for TRO with additional counts (case No. 2005-11628) (PDF file) March 23, 2005
- 1 Page decision by 11th Cir. Denying "Amended" Petition for Rehearing (case No. 2005-11626) regarding TRO (PDF file) Opinion rendered March 23, 2005; Filed March 30, 2005 Alt. Link at FindLaw.com: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/32505opn11.pdf
- Opinion by 11th Cir. En Banc Rehearing denial (case No. 2005-11556) (PDF file) March 23, 2005; Alt. Links at "Abstract Appeal," "SCOTUS" Legal Blogs, http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/11cirorderrehg.pdf, http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/schiavo.enbanc.denial.pdf
- "EMERGENCY APPLICATION FOR STAY..." to U.S. Supreme Court filed by Terri's Parents (PDF file) March 23, 2005
- [ Denial of Stay by U.S. Supreme Court for Appeals case: 2005-11556 (US Supreme Court Application: 04A825)] (HTML Page) March 24, 2005
- Opinion by Tampa Federal court denying TRO after appeals court denied "All Writs" petition ruling that lower court could address this (PDF file) March 25, 2004
- Opinion by 11th Cir. En Banc Rehearing denial (case No. 2005-11626) (PDF file) March 25, 2005; Alt. Link at FindLaw.com: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/33005ca11rhrng2.pdf
- [ Denial of Stay by U.S. Supreme Court for Appeals case: 2005-11628 (US Supreme Court Application: 04A844)] (HTML Page) March 30, 2005
Congressional record
Sunday March 20- Daily Digest, March 20
- Long list of comms
- Prayer and Pledge, etc.
- S.686 Search Results
- 3 versions of S.686
- Report:Medical and Legal History
- Congressonal Record Search Results
- H.R. 1452
- Page H1701 onwards
- More House pages
- Page S3099
- House Report 109-028
- H.RES.182
Monday, March 21
Other
- The Terri Schiavo Foundation
- Abstract Appeal's compilation
- How the Schiavo Federal Court Case Might Have Been Won (by Constitutional scholar Michael C. DorfMichael C. DorfMichael C. Dorf is an American law professor and a noted U.S. constitutional law scholar. He is currently a Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. In addition to constitutional law, Professor Dorf has taught courses in civil procedure and federal courts...
)