Not a surprise: Supreme court petition denied.

At noon today, Judge Greer will rule on the State of Florida’s petition to gain custody of Terri Schiavo.

The clock is ticking. From the L.A. Times/AP:

“She has to start getting hydration; if she doesn’t, she’s not going to be with us much longer,” Bob Schindler said. The Schindlers’ lawyer, David C. Gibbs III, said they were watching her “skin crack, her nose bleed.” He said Schiavo was having “pangs of hunger and thirst.”

Ann Coulter asks: “So how about a Republican governor’s sending in the National Guard to stop an innocent American woman from being starved to death in Florida?”

Update: Judge Greer declines to hear Gov. Bush’s petition. From the Miami Herald:

“The requested intervention … appears to be brought for the purpose of circumventing the courts’ final judgment and order setting the removal date in violation of the separate of powers doctorate,” Greer ruled Thursday.

Greer’s decision Thursday afternoon came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to order her feeding tube reinserted. The decisions reduce chances for quick intervention to reconnect the tube, which was pulled last Friday. Doctors have said Schiavo, 41, likely would die in a week or two without nourishment.

Bush said he was expecting Greer to rule against the state and he planned to appeal. He added that he won’t violate Greer’s order by sending state officers to take custody of Schiavo under a law that allows the Department of Children & Families to act in emergency situations of adult abuse.

Bush’s legal team is still frantically poring over state laws to see if there’s another way to intervene while appealing Greer’s decision.