[Lou Dobbs:] Tonight, running out of options: the legal battle to keep Terri Schiavo alive has entered a critical and possibly final stage. A federal court is holding a new hearing at this hour. And I'll be talking with a top medical ethicist who says the U.S. Supreme Court is absolutely right to stay out of this case. Has the United States turned the corner in Iraq? The number of American troops killed in Iraq has declined sharply, Iraqis themselves taking the fight to the enemy. Tonight, the Pentagon considers bringing tens of thousands of our troops home. And dropout crisis. Shocking new figures tonight on the number of minority high school students who drop out of school. And you have guessed it, the invasion of illegal aliens a significant factor. Some of our schools are now nothing less than dropout factories.
[Announcer:] This is LOU DOBBS, for news, debate and opinion, tonight.
[Dobbs:] Good evening. Tonight the parents of Terri Schiavo are making a last-ditch effort to keep their daughter alive. At this hour, a federal court in Tampa, Florida, is considering a new lawsuit filed by Terri Schiavo's parents. Earlier, both the U.S. Supreme Court and a Florida state judge declined to intervene. We begin our coverage tonight with Bob Franken outside the federal courthouse in Tampa Bob.
[Bob Franken, Cnn Correspondent:] And Lou, it is the same federal judge here at the courthouse in Tampa who originally, earlier this week, turned down a request for an emergency order. That turndown has been now upheld by the Supreme Court. But now there's a revised claim, charging that by pulling the feeding tube from Terri Schiavo, the various parties have violated federal law, including the Americans With Disability Act. Included in this filing is the affidavit from Dr. William Cheshire, who is the neurologist who told the governor yesterday in an affidavit that he did not believe that the persistent vegetative state that had been diagnosed for Terri Schiavo was, in fact, as severe. And the significance of that, says the motion that was filed today, the significance of not being PVS would shatter the basis for removal of life support. And that, of course, is fundamental to the legal efforts that are being made on behalf of those who want her returned that life support. One other thing: this precise affidavit was turned down earlier today by a state judge. That rejection is now being appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. So as you can see, Lou, the lawyers are not about to give up, even though they have suffered just recently, in particular, a series of defeats Lou.
[Dobbs:] Bob, thank you. Bob Franken reporting. Terri Schiavo's parents tonight are running out of options, clearly, in their battle to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted. They hope that Governor Jeb Bush of Florida will intervene before Terri Schiavo's condition deteriorates even further. Ed Henry is in Tallahassee with the report Ed.
[Ed Henry, Cnn Correspondent:] Good evening, Lou. That's right, the governor has been behind closed doors all day with his staff behind me in his office here in Tallahassee, trying to figure out a way to save Terri Schiavo's life. He's facing a lot of pressure, especially within his own party, a lot of conservatives putting the heat on him. I was in the outer area of that office a short while ago. There are phones ringing off the hook. There are activists waiting outside with signs all day. They've been urging the governor to step in. What can he do at this point? Some legal analysts say that the governor could order the Department of Children and Families to go into the hospice and actually take custody of Terri Schiavo under the grounds that she has been abused. And they say that this would be legal under the state Adult Protective Services Act. Just a few moments ago, after refusing all interview requests all day, the governor spoke to the local Capital News Service and addressed some of the questions about this.
[Gov. Jeb Bush , Florida:] I have talked to a whole lot of people that I respect, not just now, but the first time that when Terri's law was passed, to make the determination of what my powers are, and they are they are not as expansive as people would want them to be. And understand what they're they're acting on their heart, and I fully appreciate their sentiments and the emotions that go with this. But I cannot go and I've been consistently saying, and I guess you guys haven't been listening and repeating it back, I've consistently said that I can't go beyond what my powers are.
[Henry:] And that is the bottom line; that is the question. How far do those powers go? Again, some legal analysts saying that he could, in fact, order the state to go in and take custody of Terri Schiavo, despite the judge's ruling earlier today saying that he couldn't. Then the state would have a 24-hour window to explain and file court papers explaining why, in fact, they had taken custody. At that point, then Judge Greer could send sheriffs to go and retrieve Terri Schiavo. That would obviously open up a whole new round of messy legal fights, but the bottom line, the reason why conservative activists are demanding the governor do this, is that in that 24-hour period at least, that feeding tube could be reconnected and they could possibly save Terri Schiavo's life. That's what's at stake here right now Lou.
[Dobbs:] Thank you. Ed Henry reporting from Tallahassee. Terri Schiavo has received no food for six days. Doctors now say she is likely to die within the next few days unless she receives nourishment. John Zarrella reports from outside her hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida John.
[John Zarrella, Cnn Correspondent:] Lou, we are now moving into what would be the longest she has ever been off the feeding tube, six days in 2003, two days in 2001, getting to be a very critical time. Now, here at the hospice, the vigil continues. The protesters, a couple of hundred of them, at times here, yelling and asking for Governor Bush, imploring Governor Bush, in fact, to please step in and intervene. But as we heard, the governor's hands may well be tied. He does not want to, and has repeatedly said it, that he does not want to overstep his bounds. Now overhead a bit of cheer went out today when a banner plane went overhead, and that banner plane, on it was, "Governor, save Terri." Now again, it is a fight to save Terri that's running out of time with each passing day. It's unclear how long she'll be able to go. Now, her family was inside late this afternoon after not being allowed inside for almost 12 hours, because Michael Schiavo and his relatives were apparently in there. They don't go in at the same time to visit to visit Terri. But they did go in this afternoon, and when they came out, they said they were leaving to go to that federal court hearing. They would be there for the hearing. Now a spokesman for the family, Randall Terry, described Terri's condition as really beginning to weaken.
[Randall Terry, Spokesman For Schindlers:] The family just saw Terri, and her condition is weakening. Susie said she looked that like she just got out of Auschwitz. The mother was physically ill, had to leave the room.
[Zarrella:] Terri's mother in fact, they say, after leaving the room, could not go back in. She was just too distraught over seeing her daughter in that condition, a very difficult time, obviously for the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler and Terri's sister and brother, Suzanne and Bobby Jr. So again, the vigil being kept here. But how long is the question. Will she stay alive while the court battles play out all over the state Lou.
[Dobbs:] Thank you very much. John Zarrella reporting from Pinellas Park, Florida. The White House today also announced there are no plans for further intervention by the federal government in the Schiavo case. The White House said President Bush is saddened by the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case. Top Republicans in Congress also criticizing the Supreme Court decision. Tonight, a new opinion poll suggests the president's decision to try to help Terri Schiavo has cost him political support. A new CNN"USA Today"Gallup poll shows President Bush's approval rating has declined to 45 percent, compared to 52 percent before he signed the law allowing federal courts to review the case. Later here in this broadcast, I'll be talking with a top medical ethicist about the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal today to intervene to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, the legal battles that are still ahead, and the ethical considerations on the part of all involved in this case. Turning now to Iraq, there has been a sharp decline in the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the elections were held in January. The number of our troops killed in March is on track to be the lowest monthly total in more than a year. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. troops are winning more battles against the insurgents. Kitty Pilgrim has the report.
[Kitty Pilgrim, Cnn Correspondent:] The death toll in Iraq for U.S. forces so far this month is the lowest in more than a year. At 35 casualties in March, the death rate has dropped significantly since the elections. Insurgents have been successfully routed by U.S. and Iraqi forces in recent days, killing dozens.
[Michael O'hanlon, Brookings Institution:] Things are definitely looking better in Iraq in the last few weeks, there's not much doubt about that, if you measure the number of attacks, the number of American casualties. So on balance, I would say that things are definitely moving in the right direction.
[Pilgrim:] One hopeful sign: in Baghdad this week, Iraqi citizens shouted "no to terror," protesting attacks against the infrastructure. In Falluja, last November coalition forces devastated the city. Now they are rebuilding, but some say the political process is now critical.
[Noah Feldman, Nyu School Of Law:] The key is to stop the new recruiting. And to do that, we have to first turn the tide militarily, as we may perhaps be doing. But we also need to offer a political option for the Sunnis so they don't think that the future of the country is going to exclude them.
[Pilgrim:] Many see a hopeful period, which may or may not last.
[Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group:] For the moment, good. I am I think there is no question that we should take some solace in the fact that security for the average Iraqi in the past couple of months has been significantly improved from where it was, say, six months ago. That is significant. But it is not the be all-end all.
[Pilgrim:] Well, the experts we spoke to today caution that improved security was a first step. The political process has to go forward to include all groups so Iraqis feel engaged in building their country's government. And the insurgents, Lou, find it much harder to recruit.
[Dobbs:] And the bottom line here is that conditions improving markedly for our troops in Iraq.
[Pilgrim:] A period of hope, yes.
[Dobbs:] Absolutely. Thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim. An important U.S. ally in the global war against terror is tonight facing major political upheaval. Thousands of protesters in the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan stormed government buildings in the capital, forcing the country's president to flee. Riot police appeared to be disorganized, they were unwilling to take any action whatsoever against the protesters. Opposition leaders say parliamentary elections in February and March were rigged. And Kyrgyzstan hosts a key U.S. air base that supports military operations against radical Islamist terrorists in Afghanistan. About U.S. 1,000 troops are based there. Some American troops may soon be coming home sooner than many had expected. That report and General David Grange coming up. And the dropout crisis in some of our nation's high schools, why one group of students is leaving school at an alarming rate and what some schools are trying to do to hide that fact. Stay with us.