Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 6 – 3 today that a federal drug law cannot be used to override a 1997 Oregon law allowing physician-assisted suicides. In its majority opinion, the court ruled that the Bush Administration had overstepped its constitutional bounds in trying to use a federal controlled substances law to punish Oregon physicians who prescribed lethal doses of medications in order to end the lives of over 200 seriously ill patients.

CNN reports that Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Associate Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas cast the three dissenting votes, stating that the federal government had the power to regulate the dispensing of the medications involved.

In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, “Congress did not have this far-reaching intent to alter the federal-state balance.”

A rather conciliatory Justice Scalia is quoted by CNN as stating that he felt the court's ruling "is perhaps driven by a feeling that the subject of assisted suicide is none of the federal government's business. It is easy to sympathize with that position." [CNN report…]

Also See: Supreme Court Upholds Medical Marijuana Ban