Supreme Court Rules in favor of Sanity
Yeah!!! Let’s hear it for the Supreme Court. By a vote of 6 to 3, they’ve upheld the values of limited government, states’ rights and personal responsibility. Conservatives must be dancing in the street.
Oh, wait…it was the Bush Administration that brought this case to the Supreme Court, trying to get a state referendum overturned by that big, intrusive federal government. Ooookay.
Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Law (aka the Death With Dignity Act) was passed overwhelmingly by Oregon voters. John Ashcroft, when he was Attorney General, tried several times to have this law overturned in a federal court. He lost each time.
And now (hopefully) the issue has finally been settled by the Supreme Court. The three dissenters were Scalia, Clarence Thomas and John Roberts. Scalia is constantly spewing out rhetoric about individualism and limited government. One of his other personalities must have been on board today. Clarence Thomas’ vote is no surprise; and Roberts showed us why Bush selected him for the Court.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority: “Congress did not have this far-reaching intent to alter the federal-state balance…authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design.”
Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act allows terminally ill patients to be “put to sleep” by drugs administered by their physician. The patient has to be of sound mind when making this decision, and the decision has to be approved by at least two doctors.
And now everyone should hope and pray for the continued health and non-retirement of each remaining Supreme Court justice. Roberts’ vote is a clear example of where Bush and the American Taliban are trying to take America. We won’t go.
posted by Tom Harper @ 10:53 AM
9 Comments:
You're right. This is GREAT news! As an Oregon voter (at the time), I voted in favor of the Death with Dignity initiative twice. It's nice to know, at last, that my vote really counted.
Trey: Yup, sometimes the system works. Being terminally ill and wanting to just die -- that would be a terrible position to be in. The last thing someone in that position needs is to have the federal government come barging in.
Tom, your comments are back on! (Permanently, I hope.) I've missed the dialogue...
Interesting, isn't it, that Roberts sided with the admin. The Three Stooges are going to be joined at the hip in a lot of decisions, I'm willing to wager.
BK: Yup, comments are back on. I just found out about comment moderation -- I didn't know Blogger offered it. The Three Stooges, I like it. Yeah, they'll be joined at the hip for a lot of these decisions.
Living just outside of Portland, I was listening to Tom Hartman this morning. I believe that Roberts was asked by one of Oregon's senators about that law and his feelings on challenges to this law. He said that he did not believe that it would be overturned. The sad part is, he was one of the dissenters.
Bonnie: Yeah, I believe it. Roberts seems to be playing the most coy, innocent role he can think of. "Oh, me, gee, I don't know, I'm just a legal scholar, uh, let's see, what was your question again?" Riiight.
I don't know what's more maddening, George W.'s goals, or his coy way of stating them.
Tom, like BK, I'm glad the dialogue is back. You have a great weblog!
As an Oregonian who has voted for assisted suicide, I am relieved that the Supreme Court made the decision it did, and that it did so by a 6-3 margin! Even with Alito on the court I would bet the outcome would have been 5-4 but still in favor of Oregon. Of course Roberts voted against it; I would also be willing to bet he will go along with Thomas and Scalia (and soon Alito) in most decisions... the Three Stooges are soon to become the Four Horsemen.
As far as Congressional challenges to the law, Oregon's Seanators are not likely to allow that to happen. Ron Wyden has gone on record as saying such, and Gordon Smith has suggested such.
Thanks Snave. If Alito gets on the Supreme Court, it still won't be quite enough for the court to go on a rampage. Like you say, the Four Horsemen instead of the Three Stooges. We'll just have to hope and pray for the continued health of the remaining justices at least until 2009.
Kvatch: True, there's no political risk for Bush in going after the Left Coast. Alito on states' rights -- yeah, for developers, corporations, polluters...
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