PrintSchiavo, Sacco, and Vanzetti
The Schiavo case will not be forgotten. I believe it may have an effect on legislation for years to come....perhaps much in the same way the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti had in the many decades that followed their case.
Without getting carried away, there are eerie and metaphoric parallels in the dynamics of these cases.
Both involved the state executions of innocents. In all three cases thousands argued that the condemned never received fair trials. Many levels of court appeals failed and, in the end, the Supreme Court refused to hear either case. Millions petitioned governors to intervene (and commute the death sentences). Both involved national and worldwide outrage and wide scale fights to save them. Both movements failed.
The proponents of the executions, in both cases, bear some similiarities as well. Rightwing hatred toward communists and immigrants on the one hand and leftwing hatred for pro—life advocates on the other. And, sadly, the protagonists in these cases best serve their societies as martyrs than they did as living actors.
