The Palm Sunday Compromise is the colloquial name for a Congressional law passed on March 21, 2005 to allow the case of Terri Schiavo to be moved into a federal court. Extremely controversial, the law applies only to this one case, though some argue it could set a precedent for others.
On March 19, congressional leaders announced that they were drafting a bill which would transfer the case from state court to federal court. In the very early hours of March 21, Congress approved emergency legislation. Despite an absence of quorum, the Senate approved the bill (S. 686 CPS) by voice vote. The bill passed unanimously, 3-0, with 97 of 100 Senators not present. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, deliberation continued during an unusual Sunday session. When it came to a vote, the motion was passed 203-58 (156 Republicans and 47 Democrats in favor, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats against), with 174 Representatives (74 Republicans and 100 Democrats) not present on the floor at the time of the vote. The vote concluded at 12:41 a.m. EST; President Bush returned from vacation at his Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas to Washington, D.C. and signed the bill at 1:11 a.m. when it became Public Law 109-3. [1]
The bill applied only to Terri Schiavo and gave federal courts jurisdiction to review alleged violations of her constitutional rights, without regard to prior state court rulings. However, Congress did not attempt to create any new substantive rights for Schiavo, or include any provision requiring the federal court to order reinsertion of the feeding tube pending review.
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