Preparing to Use Medical Marijuana?

NY Times' coverage of the Supreme Court deliberations and the context of the case, which we have already blogged to death, is pretty good, but the constitutional subtlety is mind numbing, as seen in this Christian Science Monitor piece. Hey, cut to the chase: here's the Marijuana Policy Project briefing, this is a link to the IOM report, and this is what the Court said on this matter the last time the Bush administration came knocking.

If the ruling works out, it's on sale at Target. Only 4-8 weeks to get it when you order now. Or click "add to my wish list," dude.

Jon Eisenberg on the State of Schiavo: Not Good

The news is not encouraging from Florida on the most significant end-of-life case of the year.

Gov. Bush, the Schindlers and their supporters are now taking a two-pronged approach to forestalling the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube despite the Florida Supreme Court's decision, and so far they have achieved success on both fronts. In the Florida Supreme Court case, Gov. Bush has obtained a 30-day stay of the court's decision in order to to give him time to ask the United States Supreme Court to take the case and issue a further stay. Meanwhile, the Schindlers filed a motion in the trial court asking the judge to hold a retrial on the issue of Terri Schiavo's wishes in light of the Pope's recent statement regarding tube feeding of PVS patients. According to the Schindlers, Terri, who was Catholic, would take the Pope's statement to mean she must remain on tube feeding. The judge denied the motion, citing a prior appellate court determination that Terri "did not regularly attend mass or have a religious advisor who could assist the court in weighing her religious attitude about life-support methods." However, the judge also issued an emergency stay of the feeding-tube removal until December 6, 2004, to give the Schindlers time to appeal this order. No doubt the Schindlers will file an appeal and ask for a further stay from the state Court of Appeal court pending the decision on the appeal. Thus, there are now two temporary stays in place. I think it doubtful that the Supreme Court will take the case and issue a stay, but I think it likely that the Court of Appeal will issue a stay pending its decision on the Pope motion, which will likely last for the better part of a year or longer.

What Happens Next in Schiavo

Jon Eisenberg, author of several amicus briefs in end-of-life cases, reports by email today to the 60 of us who signed the Schiavo brief that:

The Governor's attorneys have announced that they will ask the United States Supreme Court to take the case. Meanwhile, the Schindlers have asked the trial judge to reopen the case and retry the issue of Terri's wishes because of the Pope's recent pronouncement against removal of feeding tubes from PVS patients. I'll keep you apprised of future developments.

Schiavo Discussed Around the Nation

In the wake of the Thursday decision by the Florida Supreme Court that "Terri's Law" is unconstitutional, there is a lot of new analysis of this case and its role. The Miami Herald offers a timeline of events in the case itself and an excerpt of the unanimous ruling. The right to life websites are aflame with discussion of appeal possibilities. Wilkes McHugh, the firm that represents Gov. Bush in the case, has the legal documents. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that there was just no hope at any point after the December 2 opinion of the independent guardian.