Supreme Court of Florida

A law passed by the Legislature, which allows the Governor to prevent the withholding of nutrition and hydration from a person in a vegetative state, is unconstitutional on its face as an unlawful delegation of legislative authority and as a violation of the right to privacy.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/23/2004
• Published 09/23/2004

Judges

• PARIENTE, C.J.

Court

• Supreme Court of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Kenneth L. Connor and Camille Godwin of Wilkes and McHugh, P.A., Tampa, FL, and Robert A. Destro, Washington, DC, on behalf of Jeb Bush, Governor of the State of Florida;  and Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, George Lemieux, Deputy Attorney General, Chief of Staff, and Jay Vail, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellant., Jan G. Halisky, Clearwater, FL, and William L. Saunders, Jr., Director and Counsel, Washington, DC, for Center for Human Life and Bioethics at the Family Research Council, Amici Curiae;  George K. Rahdert of Rahdert, Steele, Bryan and Bole, P.A., St. Petersburg, FL, and Max Lapertosa, Chicago, IL, for Not Dead Yet, Adapt, The ARC of the United States, Center on Human Policy, Syracuse University, Center on Self Determination, Disability Rights Center, Freedom Clearinghouse, Hospice Patients' Alliance, Mouth Magazine, National Council on Independent Living, National Disabled Students Union, National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, Society for Disability Studies, TASH, World Association of Persons With Disabilities and World Institute on Disability, Amici Curiae;  Patricia Fields Anderson, St. Petersburg, FL, Barbara J. Weller and David Charles Gibbs, III of Gibbs Law Firm, P.A., Seminole, FL, Jay Alan Sekulow, James H. Henderson, Sr., Walter M. Weber and David A. Cortman, Washington, DC, for Robert and Mary Schindler, Amici Curiae;  Mary L. Wakeman, Russell E. Carlisle, Lauchlin T. Waldoch and Edwin M. Boyer, Tallahassee, FL, for the Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys, Inc., and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Amici Curiae;  Scott M. Solkoff, Chair, Mary L. Wakeman, and Lauchlin T. Waldoch, Tallahassee, FL for The Elder Law Section of the Florida Bar, Amicus Curiae;  and Jon B. Eisenberg and David S. Ettinger of Horvitz and Levy, LLP, Encino, California and Bruce G. Howie, St. Petersburg, FL, for 55 Bioethicists and Autonomy, Inc., Amici Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• George J. Felos of Felos and Felos, P.A., Dunedin, FL, Randall C. Marshall, Legal Director of American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, Miami, FL, and Thomas J. Perrelli and Robert M. Portman of Jenner and Block, LLC, Washington, DC, on behalf of Michael Schiavo, as Guardian of the person of Theresa Marie Schiavo, for Appellee.