This points out why we need to get all of President Bush's judicial nominees approved; when a leftwing judge with a clear conflict of interest decides life and death cases, it is time for some serious judicial changes.

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) A federal judge who declined to review the lawsuit Terri Schaivo's parents filed to prevent her painful 13 day starvation death may have had a conflict of interest...

...Whittemore served in the 13th Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, Florida from 1990 to 1999. According to a report in the Empire Journal newspaper, one of the attorneys who formerly represented Terri's estranged husband Michael had recommended him for that position.

Michael's former attorney, Constance McCaughey, had been a member of the 13th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission which suggested Whittemore for the circuit court position.

The report goes on to note that McCaughey was Michael Schiavo's attorney until she divorced Schiavo's current attorney, euthansia-advocate George Felos. It was with McCaughey running Michael Schiavo's case that the decisions were made to allow Schiavo to use Terri's rehabilitation money for legal fees, to allow Michael to be Terri's guardian and to file the initial demand to remove Terri's feeding tube. Birds of a feather flock together, goes the old saw: are we to believe that justice Whittemore would have been recommended by McCaughey if he didn't share her overall worldview? Whittemore should have recused himself; and we have to ensure that Whittemore is balanced with a good number of judges who know how to do the right thing.