European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 20, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns George will the stars and stripes june 1985 supreme court is creating a whale of a workload Melville moby Dick is either readers differ a great novel about god or a Boring treatise about whaling but chapter 89 is about Law and is relevant to the question of Why today supreme which docs not suffer in suffers from an onerous workload the court has chewed yet again on the first Amend ments establish mint that simple injunction shall make no Law respecting an establish ment of religion which the court has contrived to make absurdly Melville praised the tenseness of the whalers which could be engraved in a harpoons Barb a fast fish belongs to the party fast to and a Loose fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch but such concision left room for ample was a whale fast attached when just bearing a Symbol of possession1 was a whale Loose if dragging an empty boat the Gentr Alness of Many of the constitutions pro visions guarantees for the court a constant flow of the constitutions open textured language has allowed it to suit both a simple agrarian and a com plex Industrial but the court has kept Busy for what constitutes interstate or How the phrase unreasonable searches relates to electronic the establishment reasonably is devoid of it Means government must not be partial to a particular religion or Bui a litigious alabamian persuaded six justices Powell and Al to Oconnor to Rule that Alabama ravished the Constitution with a Law authorizing a min Ute of silence in Public schools for meditation or voluntary a although not a objection to voluntary spoken prayer in schools is that it can be neither really prayer nor truly it must be thin liturgical Gruel to give no offence to any and children will feel coercive peer pressure to but what injury does a moment of silence even if the legislature Hopes children will use it for prayer the Only injury is to a few litigious adults self appoint de thought police whose injury is the annoyance they feel about what might be in a Childs or a Legislatures had Alabama deleted the last three words in the phrase meditation or voluntary the court probably would have said the Law passed Constitution Al the Man who brought this frivolous suit Call him because that is his name said he Only did so because he detected a suggestion that prayer is the preferred activity during the silent the justices could devote even More time to complaining about their Case Load if they would just use wills generic it is a on sentence opinion Jim Fain Awta Assn is too Al Hartent of which May if of Praver in Engie vat for the state to a moment silence or we station xxx whats the question theses in violate applicable in percent of All contemporary cases arising from government action touching religion the practice in question does not what the establishment clause was intended to prevent impose an official or significantly enhance or hinder a sect so the practice is constitutional and the complaining parties should Buzz but in the court contrary to the Clear evidence of the framers that the establishment clause requires government to be punctilious by not Between religious sects but Between religion and so the court devised a Rococo three part test government action touching religion is presumptively unconstitutional unless it has a secular and its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits and it does not Foster excessive entanglement of government with Given that the outcome of the Alabama Case Justice writing for the took 23 pages to explain that Alabama purposes was not Pri Stinely secular and hence the Law violates the convoluted mis construction with which the court has re placed the unambiguous concision of the establish ment what of the 24 other states that have Momento silence Laws the court can put each Complete with each Laws legislative under its moral the courts previous triumphs regarding the establishment clause include a ruling that it is constitutional to use Public funds to buy textbooks for religiously affiliated but unconstitutional to buy other instructional such As that Hare brained hair splitting caused Pat Moynihan to throw up his hands in celtic eloquence and ask what about atlases the court has said Legislatures May pay Chap but now a suit is coming that seeks to prevent the use of Public funds to print chaplains presumably because exposure of no legislators to the chaplains works would establish i Hope such cases inundate the court until the justices fall on their Knees not on government of lest excessive entanglement occur and Pray for Relief from the consequences of their Anticosti to tonal c 1985 Washington Post writers group living will is karens bequest to a grateful nation Karen Ann Quinlan had barely tasted life when she slipped into a coma in yet she gave More to humanity than most physicians or that because her tragedy forced us to think about a subject we instinctively Karen made us face the fact medical technology had changed the meaning of the until recently death meant that the heart and breath had but with resuscitator and artificial or it is possible to keep them going for years after thought and feeling have not until karens parents got a courts permission in 1976 to unplug her Respirator did this country locus on what constitutes death in today during the nine years she unexpectedly any number of government Legislatures and courts wrestled with that since 13 states have passed living will bringing to 35 including the District of Columbia the number that permit citizens to sign a document directing doctors not to prolong life after Hope is most states also have rewritten Legal definitions of death to include irreversible cessation of All brain including the such victories have not come the society for the right to 250 57th new York lobbies nation ally for such As do concern for of the same and the Hemlock Box los an opponents include the right to life movement in Many the roman Catholic a Battle rages now in where for four years the House has killed Senate passed living will new Hampshire last month dramatically overrode a veto by John Sunu the legislature approved the Law once before Only to have it vetoed by an other an 81yearold senator Eugene Daniell of led the fight this he got a big assist from 38yearold Sarah Caldwell of a multiple sclerosis victim who ignored a severe speech Handicap to stump the though some of the political far right want the government to strap patients to life support no matter Public opinion now strongly supports the right to a new York time subs poll late last year showed 77 percent in favor of halting efforts to keep alive the Termi Nally ill if that what the patient problems arise with infants and others who Are incompetent to make such Deci Roswell was sentenced last month by a Florida court to 25 years for shooting his hopelessly ill wife who had pleaded for another court is wrestling with the Case of Paul a former fire fighter and emergency medical services technician who suffered irreversible brain damage in a 1983 in accordance with his previously expressed his family wants the Hospital to Stop tube feeding All Over the Doc ministers and others Are focusing on such we Are working our Way toward the sensible so Lution of letting people die in Comfort and once they no longer have the Prospect of meaningful for that we will forever be indebted to Karen Quinlan and the Loving parents who shepherded her comatose body through its 10year c 1985 Cox news service the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on mis p8fle represent those of the authors and Are in no Way is redrew Ellno those of the and stripes or the United states