Political observers have been scratching their heads over the last week as they've listened to the moral grandstanding of political leaders forcing the relitigation of the Schiavo case. One after another, Republicans have proclaimed their undying allegiance to the “culture of life.” President George W. Bush said, "In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life." Governor Jeb Bush said, “We should always favor life.”
In an unsigned memo that was distributed to Republican senators and later obtained by ABC News, the Schiavo case was described as a “great political issue.”
“This legislation ensures that individuals like Terri Schiavo are guaranteed the same legal protections as convicted murderers like Ted Bundy,” according to the memo.
Which raises an interesting point: How can people who have been so hostile toward legal protections for people on death row -- whose lives literally hang in the balance -- say they always “favor life”?
The Bush brothers and congressional Republicans who vocally oppose “endless” appeals by death-row inmates demanded more litigation and more federal involvement in the Schiavo case -- all because the courts' decisions were not to their liking. Prior to the congressional intervention, the case was reviewed dozens of times in court, including five times in federal court. It was never determined that Terri Schiavo's rights had been violated. Before Congress interfered, the Supreme Court rejected the opportunity to hear the case three times.
Reasonable people can disagree about whether or not Schiavo's case deserved more review (Democrat Tom Harkin co-sponsored the Schiavo bill), but it is inconsistent for Republicans to advocate for it. If their rhetoric and actions in this case are to be taken seriously, they should adopt a new posture on death-penalty cases.
As governor of Texas, Bush set a record for executions, with 152 people put to death on his watch. There is serious doubt about the guilt of some of them. Worse, he was quoted in a 2000 Talk Magazine interview by Tucker Carlson as mimicking a female inmate's final plea for her life: "'Please,' Bush whimpered, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'Don't kill me.'”
Death-penalty supporters like Bush may cruelly imitate a person on death row, but even they have to admit that killing innocent people is wrong. In February 2005, the American Bar Association released a study saying that legal representation of indigents is in "a state of crisis." These defendants are at constant risk of wrongful conviction and unjust punishment, including the death penalty, according to the study.
Nationally, about 100 wrongfully convicted men and women have been freed from death row since 1976, thanks in many cases to DNA technology. These are not inmates who were released because of a technicality or because they “gamed the system,” as conservatives like to say. They were exonerated.
That should be troubling to anyone professing a strong presumption in favor of life. In 2000, Governor George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have allowed Texas counties to set up a public-defender system for indigent suspects and pushed for legislation to streamline the state appeals process, i.e., cut short the chance for the falsely convicted to prove their innocence. He was so convinced of the guilt of Texas' death-row inmates that he granted only one 30-day stay of execution in more than five years in office.
While it would be nearly impossible for Jeb Bush to catch up with his brother's killing spree in Texas, he has focused on getting rid of those pesky appeals that have been so integral to his quest to overturn scores of state and federal court rulings in the Schiavo case. This has occurred despite Florida's position as the state with the most wrongful convictions of death-row inmates in the country -- 21 over a 28-year period, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In second place was Illinois, where 18 people on death row were wrongfully convicted. In 2000, then-Governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty.
But not Jeb Bush. He wants to speed up the process. His 2003 budget said: "Governor Bush believes that capital cases should be resolved within five years after a death sentence is imposed -- not 20 years. Delays of 10 to 20 years in capital cases are not fair to anyone and justice is not served."
Except, perhaps, for those who are innocent. A month before Governor Bush made this statement, Rudolph Holton was exonerated after spending 16 years on death row. Under Bush's proposal, Holton likely would have been dead.
Perhaps it took the case of Terri Schiavo to awaken conservatives' compassion for those who rely on the judicial system for protection from those who would like to take their lives. If ever there is a place for the legislative or executive branch to take an interest -- and make every allowance to see that the correct decision is reached -- it is the death penalty, which involves actions by the government to prosecute and then kill its citizens.
However the Schiavo case should have been resolved, it is indisputable that any person who puts a premium on life can't stand by as the government executes innocent people.
Kirsten A. Powers served as deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative for public affairs in the Clinton administration and is a New York-based Democratic consultant. In addition, she writes the blog PowersOnPolitics.
