It’s About Time We Kicked the Judges Out
By David N. Bass (05/27/04)
According to LifeNews.com, Florida residents will soon be given an opportunity each of us would love to have – the chance to kick an activist judge in the rear end – figuratively, anyway.
Florida Circuit Court Judge George Greer is being challenged for the first time in 12 years in the 2004 election. Anyone who has followed the situation surrounding Terri Schiavo in Florida is intimately familiar with Judge Greer. He placed himself smack dab in the midst of the Terri Schiavo controversy last year when he decreed that Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, had the right to remove her feeding tube, which would effectively allow her to slowly starve to death.
What crime did Terri commit to warrant such punishment, punishment that liberal organizations would have hemorrhoids over if applied to a convicted serial killer? She is brain-disabled and requires a feeding tube for sustenance. In other words, she is living the cardinal sin of our age – she is inconvenient. Aside from her brain, all of Terri's bodily functions are physically stable. She receives no life support or respiration, responds to communication and recognizes her family.
A horrible crime, isn't it? Apparently, some members of Florida's enlightened judiciary think so. In one of his rulings last year, Judge Greer set Oct. 15, 2003, as the date to begin Terri's starvation death. Needless to say, there was a nationwide hullabaloo over Greer's ludicrous decree. Pressure was brought against Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature to act in defense of Terri Schiavo's life. If the governor and Legislature had not intervened and prevented Judge Greer's ruling from taking effect, Terri would probably not be alive today.
Thankfully, with the 2004 election on the horizon, Florida residents have the opportunity to kick Judge Greer off the bench and make the judiciary a safer place.
Greer is being challenged by Jan Govan, an attorney hailing from Clearwater, Fla. According to LifeNews.com, Govan is specifically running against Greer because of his activist rulings in the Terri Schiavo case. Govan believes Judge Greer's decision-making process is faulty, specifically because the governor and Legislature had to intervene to clean up the mess he created through his rulings.
This news could not come at a better time, especially since the battle to protect Terri's life is heating up again. On April 23, the Second District Court of Appeals in Florida upheld Judge Douglas Baird's decision to keep Michael Schiavo's lawsuit, which challenges the law preserving Terri's life, in his court. This means Judge Baird has the freedom to declare the law unconstitutional, a decision he has already made clear he intends to make. Not surprisingly, Michael Schiavo's New Age wacko lawyer, George Felos, has requested that Judge Baird issue a summary judgment destroying the law. If events continue in this direction, Terri's life may soon be lost.
Each of us is familiar with how judges seldom listen to the voice of the people, but Floridians will have the opportunity to make their voices heard this election cycle. They will have the opportunity to elect someone who will actually adhere to the dictates of the Constitution, rather than someone who legislates from the bench his view of what society should be.
Despite the level of national support Govan is likely to receive, he is currently facing an uphill battle. Judge Greer has already collected around $55,000 from area lawyers and supporters, according to LifeNews.com. As a member of the judiciary who has sat on the bench for 12 years, Greer likely has a sizeable group of followers who are willing to dump their cash into his re-election campaign.
The fight will not be an easy or simple one for Govan, but I believe he can attain victory in the end if people in other states voice their support for him. This election in Florida is not only about a single judgeship – it is about making a statement to other judges around the nation. This election is relatively small and seemingly insignificant, but it has the great potential to have far-reaching effects.
If nothing else, it will show the judiciary that we the people of the United States take our obligation seriously to hold judges accountable for their rulings.
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