Oregon Suicide Law Upheld by Supreme Court
by Pamela LeaveyOn a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court said today that federal authority to regulate doctors “does not override the 1997 Oregon law used to end the lives of more than 200 seriously ill people.”
As expect, newly appointed Chief Justice John Roberts dissented for the first time and backed the Bush administration.
The (Bush) administration improperly tried to use a drug law to prosecute Oregon doctors who prescribe overdoses, the court majority said.
“Congress did not have this far-reaching intent to alter the federal-state balance,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for himself, retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.
The Supreme Court ruling was clearly a reprimand to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who in 2001 said “that doctor-assisted suicide is not a “legitimate medical purpose” and that Oregon physicians would be punished for helping people die under the law.”
Justic Kennedy said the “authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design.”
Ashcroft had brought the case to the Supreme Court on the day his resignation was announced by the White House in 2004. The Justice Department has continued the case, under the leadership of his successor, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
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Of course, John Roberts told Senator Ron Wyden that he would NOT overturn it. Not in so many words, but it appears that he misled the Senator. See BlueOregon.com for details.
Kari
I think we all expected that what Roberts said before confirmation and what he will do now that he has been installed will vastly differ. Thankfully this was upheld.
Yet Republicans still claim to be supporters of “small government.”
Of course Roberts and the other two most conservatives GOP jurists would dissent on this! You know how the GOP and conservatives are always championing state’s rights and the 10th amendment! Oh, wait a minute…
Their hypocrisy seems to know no bounds… For most of them, states rights apparently are only in effect in certain cases(those they follow their ideology and politics); ensuring little or no gun laws, restricted abortion, having prayer(Christian)in schools, religion in government(Christian), allowing discrimination, etc.
Of course states have no rights to pass laws to allow assisted suicide for terminally ill and suffering people, medical marijuana, voting(To interpret their states election laws say if a State Supreme Court rules all valid votes must be counted, based on their laws, if and only if, it could result in a Democrat rightfully being found to have won of course. If it would help a Republican’s votes be correctly counted, it would of course then be a states rights issue. Or if it was to restrict voting or make it more difficult for groups likely to vote Democratic to vote, that would be of course be a states right issue), etc
Kari Chisholm Says:
January 17th, 2006 at 8:51 am
“but it appears that he misled the Senator”
They know they can say anything or “mislead”(aka lie) if it will get them confirmed by the Senate. Once they are confirmed, they know it doesn’t matter. They know there is no way they are going to be impeached for it, which is the only way they can get removed after the fact.
BTW, when the Democratic Senators were questioning Alito about things like Alito using his membership in CAP, belief that Roe vs Wade should be overturned, etc when applying to work in the Reagan administration, didn’t Alito say he just listed membership in CAP and expressed certain views to help get the job? I didn’t hear it, but did any Dems respond to that with, “So what you are stating is that you have and will say anything, just to get a job?”
If not, they’re really pretty clueless. That would have been my immediate response to that excuse and should have been theirs too. I mean, that’s exactly what he’s admitting to you when using that as an excuse. And since they are admitting it to you while being “interviewed” by you to get “hired” for a new job…
Dave from Princeton
Kennedy did say something to that effect. I believe there’s something in his closing statement too.
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1636
Hi Pamela,
I’m glad to see Kennedy touched on that but where it really needed to be said, and directly, was immediately by whichever Senator was questioning Alito at the time he gave that response.
If it was Kennedy who received the original excuse and he hit him with that immediately after Alito admitted he’d say anything to get a job, then kudos to Teddy! If not, they blew an opportunity to rightly and directly smack him down for admitting that anything he says while trying to get confirmed cannot and should not be believed.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter anyway… I don’t see how they are going to stop his confirmation at this point. Sorry, I was just a little depressed about having him on the court soon.
Dave from Princeton
I hear you and I share the sadness. It’s sort of a helpless feeling floating around about this. Not sure what to do, call Senators and beg and plead, scream and yell…
I dunno.