On The Mark -- Frozen in Time

It was a small, two-paragraph story tucked away in the back pages of the newspaper, yet has huge implications. The headline, "Infertile Couple Can Sue for Wrongful Death." The Illinois couple had a frozen embryo at a fertility clinic. It was accidentally destroyed. Cook County Judge Jeffrey Lawrence said, "a pre-embryo is a human being...whether or not it is implanted in its mother's womb." The judge said the couple is as entitled to seek compensation as any parents whose child had been killed.

I'm not an attorney, but I'd say it's little cases like this one that set precedent and can create the standard for decisions all over the country. This decision could have major implications in many areas, such as embryonic stem-cell research, for example.

Wasn't it President Bush in his state of the union address who said that judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench?