at least one branch of government still has sanity...

U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa, Florida today denied the request for a temporary restraining order to restore the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo. Whittemore wrote that Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, didn't have a "substantial likelihood of success" on the merits of their arguments.

Judge Whittemore is right. From his ruling:

Plaintiffs' [the parents] argument effectively ignores the role of the presiding judge as judicial fact-finder and decision-maker under the Florida statutory scheme. By fulfilling his statutory judicial responsibilities, the judge was not transformed into an advocate merely because his rulings are unfavorable to a litigant. Plaintiffs' contention that the statutory scheme followed by Judge Greer deprived Theresa Schiavo of an impartial trial is accordingly without merit. Defendant [the husband] is correct that no federal constitutional right is implicated when a judge merely grants relief to a litigant in accordance with the law he is sworn to uphold and follow.

Judge Whittemore concluded:

This court appreciates the gravity of the consequences of denying injunctive relief. Even under these difficult and time strained circumstances, however, and notwithstanding Congress' expressed interest in the welfare of Theresa Schiavo, this court is constrained to apply the law to 12 the issues before it.

The parents, who must now believe that Judge Whittemore has "turned into an advocate merely because his ruling was unfavorable to a litigant", themselves, appealed to a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia.

I may have little faith in the legislative and executive branches of our federal government but my faith in the judicial branch is growing [by a little bit, but it's growing].