CLEARWATER - A judge has rejected a request by the parents of Terri Schiavo to intervene in the court battle over a law that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to order the reinsertion of the woman's feeding tube.
Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird denied for a second time an attempt by Bob and Mary Schindler to join the fight against a constitutional challenge to the law.
Baird said the parents' legal rights were not affected by the litigation.
Baird wrote Thursday that the act allows Bush "to exercise his discretion to determine Mrs. Schiavo's life or death. The litigation will resolve whether the decision regarding her life belongs to Mrs. Schiavo or to the Governor.
In either event, the Schindlers will not gain or lose by the direct legal operation and effect of the judgment."
A ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal last month had allowed the Schindlers to attempt to intervene.
Pat Anderson, the Schindlers' attorney, said she was surprised by the ruling and had interpreted the ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal as "strong encouragement" for the parents to intervene.
