[JURIST] CBS-10 TV in Tampa is reporting that US District Judge James Whittemore has ended this afternoon's hearing on Terri Schiavo's parents' petition for the re-insertion of her feeding tube pending a federal hearing of her case without making a ruling or even setting a timeframe for a ruling. Attorneys appearing before Judge Whittemore made impassioned arguments both about the likelihood of the Schindlers' success on the merits in any federal case involving Schiavo and the constitutionality of legislation passed early this morning in Congress and signed by the President which purported to give the federal courts jurisdiction to review the matter.

5:17 PM – Michael Schiavo attorney George Felos told reporters outside the courtroom that he was very pleased with the arguments, that the judge was taking the arguments presented to him very carefully, and that he would rule in the very near future. He said Judge Whittemore had been given materials to consider and he praised the constitutional system for allowing judges to consider the law immune from public pressure. He indicated he was hopeful that judge would recognize there was no possiblitity that the Schindlers could prevail, and claimed it was obvious from the judge's questioning that there was no federal right for the parents to invoke.

A lawyer for the Schindlers said that they expected the judge to take some time to review materials and that he was sensitive to the time limitations involved.

7:15 PM – Bloomberg has a fully-updated story here.