From MSNBC.com:

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - With a furious legal and political battle raging outside her hospice room, doctors removed Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube Friday after a judge rebuffed an unprecedented attempt by Republican lawmakers in Congress to keep the brain-damaged woman alive.

It is expected that it will take one to two weeks for Schiavo, 41, to die, provided no one intercedes and gets the tube reinserted.

The tube has twice been removed in the past, but was re-inserted within days in both cases.

The latest removal came amid a flurry of maneuvering by Schiavo’s parents, state lawmakers and Congress to keep her alive. Committees in the Republican-controlled Congress issued subpoenas for Schiavo, her husband and her caregivers, demanding that they appear at hearings in the coming weeks. The lawmakers argued that the subpoenas kicked in legal protections that prohibit doing harm to a prospective witness.

But the judge presiding over the case refused a request from House attorneys to delay the removal, which he had previously ordered to take place at 1 p.m. EST, and a private physician was called in to remove the feeding tube keeping Schiavo alive.

Request to high court
Late Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, denied an emergency request from the House committee that issued the subpoenas to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube while the committee files appeals in the lower courts to have its subpoenas recognized.

Meanwhile, Republican congressional leaders said in a statement that they planned to work through the weekend to try to save Terri Schiavo’s life.

"Right now, murder is being committed against a defenseless American citizen in Florida," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas said in an earlier statement. "Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be immediately replaced, and Congress will continue working to explore ways to save her.





Later, QD.