Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Supreme Court Protects States' Rights Against Bush's DoJ
Supreme Court Affirms Oregon's Assisted Suicide Law
The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die. Justices, on a 6-3 vote, said 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. New Chief Justice John Roberts backed the Bush administration, dissenting for the first time. The administration improperly tried to use a drug law to prosecute Oregon doctors who prescribe overdoses, the court majority said.It will not surprise you that the dissenting votes were Scalia, Thomas, and — yep, Roberts. The majority opinion delivered a dope slap to John Ashcroft. Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority:
...the "authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design."
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