If you follow this legal strategy of this well-planned brinksmanship, its obvious that the parent's atttorneys are attempting to create a condition where Ms. Schiavo dies while a petition before the court is pending. This is actually a political strategy aimed at affecting public opinion following Ms. Schiavo's inevitable death. The idea is to be able to politically eviscerate the judiciary for not reinserting the feeding tube while an appeal is supposedly pending. It makes for a great sound bite.

One must remember that the Schindler's lawyers have been given to them by right wing religious groups whose agenda here is to affect future judicial nominations in the Congress. They are actually using Ms. Schiavo's plight to advance a radical political agenda. Unfortunately, the Schindlers are just gullible dupes who have been convinced by these zealots that their daughter is conscious and able to recover from her injuries. An autopsy will put all of that to rest.

Fortunately, their timing is off and it appears that the U.S. Supreme Court acted quicker than they expected, dismissing the appeal while Ms. Schiavo is still alive. My predicition though is that the attorneys will attempt at least one more legal petition to set up the rhetorical opportunity.