“Time has moved on, but the Schiavo ordeal is a stark reminder of how conservative the governor was and how he could dig in when he felt he was right, as was almost always the case. The most wrenching and human crisis Bush endured in his two terms provides a window into a leader who was as commanding as he was polarizing.”

Tricia Rivas had never written to an elected official, but gripped with emotion, she composed an urgent email to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “Please save Terri Schiavo!” she wrote from her home in Tucson, Ariz., on March 20, 2005. “Do something before it is too late … please! Every parent is watching this drama unfold … and will remember the outcome in future elections.” Schiavo would be dead by the end of the month at a hospice near St. Petersburg, but not before Bush took a series of actions that, looking back a decade later, are stunning for their breadth and audacity.

A governor who was known for his my-way-or-the-highway approach — and who rarely was challenged by fellow Republicans controlling the legislative branch — stormed to the brink of a constitutional crisis in order to overrule the judicial branch for which he often showed contempt. Bush used his administration to battle in court after court, in Congress, in his brother’s White House, and, even after Schiavo’s death, to press a state attorney for an investigation into her husband, Michael Schiavo.

While many Republicans espouse a limited role for government in personal lives, Bush, now a leading contender for president in 2016, went all in on Schiavo.

“At this moment I am terribly disappointed and embarrassed to be a member of the Republican Party,” a woman in Lake Mary emailed the governor during his quest. “How can politicians not realize that the best possible thing they can do for Mrs. Schiavo’s parents is to help them to finally grieve for their daughter and move on.”

Time has moved on, but the Schiavo ordeal is a stark reminder of how conservative the governor was and how he could dig in when he felt he was right, as was almost always the case. The most wrenching and human crisis Bush endured in his two terms provides a window into a leader who was as commanding as he was polarizing.

“This was all about his personal feelings. It had nothing to do with running the state. To make allegations, when he didn’t even know Terri, it was just unbelievable,” Michael Schiavo, a registered Republican, said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. “He never called me, and if he was so interested why didn’t he come see her?” he added, recounting how Bush made time to appear on ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover show in St. Petersburg but not to see Terri Schiavo, who was minutes away.

Bush did communicate with Terri Schiavo’s parents and brother, Bobby, who now runs the nonprofit Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.

“While my family and I wished Gov. Bush could have done more, I think he probably did as much as possible within his jurisdiction at the time,” Bobby Schindler said in an interview. “He has never backpedaled from his position since Terri’s death. I wish I could say the same about other politicians who were supportive in Terri’s case but who, subsequent to her death, changed their positions with the political tide to avoid controversy.”

The long fight

The safe thing for Bush would have been to avoid the war between Terri Schiavo’s husband and her parents. It began in 1990 when Terri’s heart stopped beating because of a potassium imbalance possibly related to an eating disorder. She entered a “persistent vegetative state,” according to medical experts. She had never written a will. Her husband sought treatment, but, with no sign of recovery, family friction grew. There were allegations of abuse and fighting over a $1 million medical malpractice settlement.

A messy conflict that played out in court gained national attention in 2003 as Michael Schiavo, who contended his wife would not want to be kept alive, accumulated legal victories. Her parents argued that Michael was an unfit guardian, that their daughter was not in a chronic vegetative state, and that she would not want to end her life.

The case had made its way through the courts for five years when Bush waded into uneasy constitutional territory — and applied overt political pressure — by asking Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer for a guardian to review the case before Terri Schiavo’s life support was cut off.

“I normally would not address a letter to a judge in a pending legal proceeding,” Bush wrote in late August 2003. “However my office has received over 27,000 emails reflecting understandable concern for the well-being of Terri Schiavo.” Greer, a Republican, was not swayed.

The emails Bush cited — and tens of thousands of others covering a range of issues from his eight years in Tallahassee — have long been part of the public record but are getting a new look from reporters and opposition researchers as the 61-year-old strongly considers a run for president.

There were passionate voices on both sides but the interventionists were strongest, many appealing to Bush’s faith. Raised Episcopal, he converted to his wife’s Catholicism in 1996 and was unafraid of wading into social issues such as abortion.

“I can’t believe you as a Catholic would say this woman has no right to live,” a woman named Cheryl wrote on Aug. 8, 2003. “Would you starve one of your children to death? This situation could happen to anyone at any time due to a car accident, a drug overdose, etc. You need to prayerfully think about your decisions. God granted you the privilege of serving others in your position, you need to turn to him right now and ask for guidance, don’t ask the lawyers.”

Terri’s Law

When Greer ruled in October 2003 that Michael Schiavo could remove his wife’s feeding tube, Bush pressed the Florida Legislature to pass Terri’s Law. In an emergency session, lawmakers sidestepped the court and allowed the governor to order the feeding to resume. State troopers were on hand when Terri Schiavo was transferred to a Clearwater hospital. She had gone six days without nourishment.

Again, Bush and his allies were on dubious legal footing. Many constitutional lawyers and bioethicists were certain the law would be tossed. As governor, though, Bush showed little patience for anyone questioning his judgment and often complained of judicial activism.

To defend Terri’s Law, Bush brought in trial lawyer Ken Connor, a prominent Christian conservative activist who had run against Bush for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1994.

“He authorized us to advocate with vigor and aggressiveness,” Connor said in an interview. “Some people in a situation like that will want to do something just for show. He made no attempt to check or put a harness or a bridle on his lawyers.”

“He staked out a position rooted in principle and he never wavered — even though he came under intense criticism from the media and several other quarters,” Connor added, recounting Bush as “fully engaged” and understanding the facts of the case far better than most others in the debate.

Connor, who later became president of the Family Research Council, jokes that he never would have spent the time and money to run against Bush in 1994 had he known how conservatively he would govern. That’s something many Republicans outside Florida fail to understand about John Ellis Bush.

“He is not George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush. Jeb is a solid, convicted conservative, and I think he has the record to prove it,” Connor said.

Terri’s Law, as predicted, was overturned in court in May 2004. Bush appealed, but the Florida Supreme Court, which included three of his own appointees, issued a unanimous ruling that the law was unconstitutional, violating “a cornerstone of American democracy” that is the separation of powers. The U.S. Supreme Court declined a review.

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