But as Terri Schiavo entered her seventh day without food or water, her parents' legal setbacks continued to mount.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider ordering Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.

Circuit Judge George Greer again denied the state Department of Children & Families' bid to have the tube reinserted. He also renewed a restraining order to stop the DCF from bypassing the courts and taking Schiavo into protective custody.

Gov. Jeb Bush said he was all but out of options for helping the couple.

``[My powers] are not as expansive as people would want them to be. I understand they are acting on their heart, and I fully appreciate their sentiments and the emotions that go with this,'' Bush told the Capitol News Service. ``I've consistently said that I can't go beyond what my powers are.''

The day's events were capped with an evening hearing in downtown Tampa, where police cordoned off an area around the federal courthouse and brought in a bomb squad when a suspicious package was discovered outside.

Bomb squad officers eventually exploded the package, and no one was injured.

The nighttime hearing in Tampa ended a day of desperate legal maneuvers.

David Gibbs III, an attorney for the Schindlers, implored U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore to order that Schiavo be provided at least intravenous hydration or to allow her parents to attempt to feed her by mouth.

``We are right on the precipice of where she will leave this world,'' Gibbs told the judge. ``We are looking at probably a day or two. Not that Mrs. Schiavo will die, but that renal failure or some other irreversible condition will set in.''

7 Days Into Death Process

George Felos, the attorney for Schiavo's husband, Michael, said it was time to end the litigation. ``Seven days into her death process, she has a right to die in peace,'' he said. ``To rehydrate her and force her to begin the death process again would be cruel.''

On Tuesday, Whittemore denied the Schindlers' request for an order to reinsert the feeding tube, saying they had not established that they had a strong chance of prevailing in court on the merits of their lawsuit filed Monday.

The lawsuit was filed after Congress passed a law giving a federal judge jurisdiction and instructing the court to review anew any claims that Terri Schiavo's rights were violated. Whittemore's denial was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear an appeal. Later in the day, the Schindlers filed an amended lawsuit and were granted the second hearing before Whittemore.

Gibbs asked the judge to convene a hearing to determine Terri Schiavo's wishes. ``We believe that Terri's wish would be to live,'' he said.

But Felos said that determination had already been made by Greer. ``The intensive adjudication of Mrs. Schiavo's rights has to come to an end.''

The day began with Greer holding yet another emergency hearing at which Michael Schiavo's attorney asked him to block the DCF from taking Terri Schiavo away from Hospice House Woodside, where she has had no food or water since 1:45 p.m. March 18.

George Felos told Greer he again had reason to believe the DCF was about to try to take Terri Schiavo from the hospice with the help of Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents.

As he had the evening before, the judge asked a DCF lawyer for assurances the agency would not take unilateral action in violation of court orders.

DCF attorney Keith Gonobsik said he could offer no such guarantee.

The agency is mandated by law to protect Terri Schiavo while it investigates allegations of abuse lodged against Michael Schiavo, Gonobsik said.

Greer said he would not allow the DCF to interfere with his order that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be removed according to her wishes.

The judge again ordered Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coates to back up Pinellas Park police should state agents show up at the hospice.

``As I stated last evening, the executive branch and the legislative branch and the judicial branch are separate but equal,'' the judge said. ``However, as the Florida Supreme Court ruled in Bush vs. Schiavo, neither the executive nor the legislative branch may go behind the final judgment rendered by this court.''

Greer was referring to the last time Bush intervened in the case in October 2003. Bush had FDLE agents take Terri Schiavo from the hospice to a hospital, where her feeding tube was reinserted after the brain-damaged woman had gone six days without food and water.

That time, Bush was relying on a hastily crafted measure known as Terri's Law. The Florida Supreme Court ruled last year that it was unconstitutional and that Bush had overreached his authority.

DCF Remains Shut Out

Later Thursday, Greer denied a pending DCF request to become a party to the Schiavo case so the department could advocate for the feeding tube's reinsertion.

``The requested intervention, although ostensibly brought to ensure compliance with this statutory mandate, appears to be brought for the purpose of circumventing the court's final judgment,'' the judge wrote in his decision.

Within minutes, the DCF filed notice of its third appeal of Greer's rulings.

All three appeals, two dealing with requests to intervene in the Schiavo case and one dealing with the restraining order, remain pending before a state appeals court.

The DCF also filed an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court asking it to overrule Greer and allow it to take Terri Schiavo into protective custody. That appeal was denied.

``It saddens me greatly that we have to run to court to get court orders to protect Terri Schiavo from the abuse of the state of Florida,'' Felos said after a morning hearing.

``The conduct of the executive branch of the state of Florida has been reprehensible.''

Disappointed With Governor

Outside the hospice, news of the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to intervene and Greer's denial of the DCF motions was met with bowed heads and prayers among a small, somber crowd.

Some held signs such as ``Save Terri From Judicial Homicide,'' and ``Disabled, Not Disposable.'' Others collected signatures on a petition to impeach Greer.

A young boy methodically banged on a makeshift drum, fashioned from a plastic bucket, to simulate the sounds of a beating heart.

Spokesmen for the Schindler family were fuming that Bush had done nothing more to save the brain-damaged woman's life.

``Gov. Bush and the DCF do not have to ask permission of a judge to enforce the statutes that are on the books,'' Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry said.

``It's an appalling lack of will.''

The Schindlers, through spiritual adviser Brother Paul O'Donnell, asked the protesters to remain ``peaceful and prayerful,'' an apparent reference to the seven adults and three children arrested Wednesday in a choreographed effort to bring Terri Schiavo water.

There were no arrests as of late Thursday afternoon.

Asked about Schiavo's condition, O'Donnell said: ``It's pretty much the same as the last few days. The complexion's gone from her face. Her cheeks are sunken. The bones under her eyes are more predominant. Her skin is dry. Her mouth is dry.''

But another Schindler family spiritual adviser, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, said on Thursday that he had had a pleasant visit with her Wednesday night. He said he had found her in a good mood, her eyes open.

Maybe she looked ``a little gaunt,'' he said, but there were few signs of deterioration.

Tribune reporters Carlos Moncada and Anthony McCartney and News Channel 8 reporter Mark Douglas contributed to this report.