Yesterday’s Federal Court Order that denied Terri Schiavo’s parents’ Petition for a Rehearing called “the Act” supposedly created to save Terri Schiavo unconstitutional. (my emphasis)

The Court declared that “In resolving the Schiavo controversy it is [their] judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers’ blueprint for the governance of a free people–our Constitution.”

The reasons cited for this judgment of unconstitutionality were as follows:
* Provisions of “the Act” constitute “legislative dictation of how a federal court should exercise its judicial functions,” which is a violation of the separation of powers principle;
* While an invalid part of an act (here, the unconstitutional portion) may be dropped leaving the remainder fully operative, this can’t happen where “the Act” will not function the way Congress intended, which is what the court determined.

Now, here’s my question. Wasn’t all this clear to Congress before they even attempted to pen this legislation? Or were they using the Schiavos and Schindlers in a horrifically insensitive game of political chess and hoping that “activist judges” would lead to a right wing checkmate?