109th Congress / House / 1st session / Vote 90
- Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
- Bill: S 686
- Vote description: For the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo
- Vote type: 2/3 Yea-and-Nay (Help)
- Result: Passed, 203-58, with 174 not voting.
- Date/time: March 21, 2005, 12:45 a.m. (Late-night vote)
- Republican majority opinion: Yes (Help)
- Democrat majority opinion: No (Help)
Key Vote Analysis
On March 20, 2005, Congress joined the legal fight over whether Michael Schiavo should be able to remove his wife's life support against her parents' wishes. Schiavo's wife, Terri, was severely brain damaged as the result of a loss of oxygen to her brain when her heart temporarily stopped on February 25, 1990.
This bill, which both the Senate and House passed in an emergency Palm Sunday session, gave federal courts jurisdiction in the matter and required a federal judge, upon the family's request, to launch a new inquiry into the legal and medical questions surrounding Terri Schiavo's condition, which was the result of a severe loss of oxygen to her brain when her heart temporarily stopped on February 25, 1990. The debate and final vote largely fell along the lines of the right-to-die and pro-life movements. The Senate version of the bill was passed on the afternoon of Sunday, March 20 (by voice vote -- as a result, there is not an official record of this Senate action). The House followed suit just after midnight on Monday, March 21. The bill was immediately rushed to the White House, where President Bush signed it at 1:11 a.m. The week before the bill was passed and signed into law, Terri Schiavo's parents had exhausted all of their appeals in Florida's state courts, and on Friday, March 18, 2005, a tube providing her life-sustaining nutrients had been removed.
Following the passage of the bill, Terri Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, sued in federal district court to have the nutrients tube re-inserted while the court considered the federal bill. The court refused to order the re-insertion of the tube. The Schindlers then filed an appeal and a flurry of complaints and legal motions. During their eight-year legal fight, the Schindlers asked the U.S. Supreme Court six times to review lower federal and Florida Supreme Court rulings. Each time the Court refused to do so. On March 30, 2005, for a final time, the Supreme Court refused to get involved in the case. On March 31 Schiavo died.
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