Terri Schiavo case

===Palm Sunday Compromise===
{{Main|Palm Sunday Compromise}}
President [[George W. Bush]] and Congressional Republicans anticipated Greer's adverse ruling well before it was delivered and worked on a daily basis to find an alternative means of overturning the legal process by utilizing the authority of the [[United States Congress]]. On March 20, 2005, the Senate, by [[unanimous consent]], passed their version of a relief bill; since the vote was taken by voice vote, there was no official tally of those voting in favor and those opposed. Soon after Senate approval, the House of Representatives passed an identical version of the bill S.686, which came to be called the "[[Palm Sunday Compromise]]" and transferred jurisdiction of the Schiavo case to the federal courts. The bill passed the House on March 21, 2005, at 12:41&nbsp;a.m. ([[UTC−5]]). Bush flew to [[Washington, D.C.]] from his vacation in [[Texas]] in order to sign the bill into law at 1:11&nbsp;a.m.

While the bill had been proposed by Republican Senators [[Rick Santorum]] and [[Mel Martínez]], it also had the support of Democratic Senator [[Tom Harkin]] due to [[disability rights]] concerns in the Schiavo case. Harkin had worked with disability rights groups for years and co-authored the 1990 [[Americans with Disabilities Act]].<ref name="disability rights"/> American disability rights groups traditionally tend to ally themselves with Democrats and the political left;<ref name="disability rights"/> however, in the Schiavo case, they joined pro-life organizations in opposing the removal of her feeding tube and supporting the Palm Sunday Compromise.<ref name="Congress Debate"/> According to [[Marilyn Golden]], Harkin's support was necessary for passage of the bill, as any voice opposition by Democrats would have delayed it.<ref name="disability rights"/>

As in the state courts, all of the Schindlers' federal petitions and appeals were denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant ''[[certiorari]]'', effectively ending the Schindlers' judicial options. At the same time, the so-called [[Schiavo memo]] surfaced, causing a political firestorm. The memo was written by [[Brian Darling]], the legal counsel to Florida Republican senator Mel Martínez. It suggested the Schiavo case offered "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's [[base (politics)|base]] (core supporters) and could be used against Senator [[Bill Nelson (politician)|Bill Nelson]], a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] from [[Florida]], because he had refused to co-sponsor the bill.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002213728_memo20.html|title=GOP memo says issue offers political rewards|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=April 4, 2005|access-date=March 2, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110306125620/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002213728_memo20.html|archive-date=March 6, 2011|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Nelson easily won re-election in 2006.

Republican majority leader and physician [[Bill Frist]] opposed the removal of her feeding tube and in a speech delivered on the Senate floor, challenged the diagnosis of Schiavo's physicians of Schiavo being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS): "I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office."<ref>{{cite book|last=Frist|first=Bill|title=Bill Frist : a senator speaks out on ethics, respect and compassion|year=2005|publisher=Monument Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=0-9769668-3-2|page=195|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aFiYpPzsgYC&q=%22I+question+it+based+on+a+review%22&pg=PA195}}</ref> After her death, the autopsy showed signs of long-term and irreversible damage to her brain consistent with PVS.<ref>[http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/61305autopsyrpt.pdf Medical Examiner's Report on the Schiavo Autopsy (PDF)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013124733/http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/61305autopsyrpt.pdf |date=October 13, 2016 }} June 13, 2005</ref> Frist defended his actions after the autopsy.<ref>[[Anne E. Kornblut|Kornblut, Anne E.]] (2005). "Schiavo Autopsy Renews Debate on G.O.P. Actions". ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 16, 2005</ref>