Posted on 08/10/2005 1:32:54 PM PDT by crazyhorse691
The Oregon senator, fearing a challenge to doctor-assisted suicide, meets with the Supreme Court nominee
WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee John Roberts declared that, in cases dealing with end-of-life care, he would "start with the supposition that one has the right to be left alone," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said after the two met for an hour Tuesday.
Wyden said Roberts' comments on personal liberties and other issues of constitutional law left him hopeful that, if confirmed by the full Senate, Roberts would rule to protect Oregon's law allowing physician-assisted suicide.
"I think that's what the people of Oregon have said, that this is not something where government should be intruding," Wyden said shortly after the meeting.
Roberts, 50, a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, could ascend to the Supreme Court days before it takes up the Bush administration's challenge to the unique Oregon law. Oral arguments are set for Oct. 5.
At issue is whether federal drug agents can prosecute doctors under the Controlled Substances Act for prescribing lethal doses of painkillers to terminally ill patients. Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft challenged the Oregon law in 2001, arguing that assisted suicide was not a "legitimate use" of federally controlled drugs.
So far, supporters of the Oregon law have won in federal courts. Opponents have said they hope an increasingly conservative Supreme Court will block the law, and they hope Roberts will prove to be an ally.
A different kind of conservatism
But Wyden said he came away from his meeting confident that Roberts would apply a different kind of conservatism to the Oregon case, hewing to a limited view of federal power under the Constitution.
Roberts told Wyden that he would look closely at the legislative history of federal laws and would be careful not to strip states of powers they traditionally have held -- such as regulating the practice of medicine, Wyden said.
"You don't get the impression from how he answered that he'd let somebody stretch a sweeping statute like the Controlled Substances Act," Wyden said.
Wyden said he could not ask Roberts directly about the upcoming Oregon case. However, the two talked generally about other high-profile cases, including the 1997 Washington v. Glucksberg case, in which the court upheld a state ban on assisted suicide and reaffirmed states' rights to address the issue.
Roberts said the basic genius of the federal system is that it affords states the ability to approach problems in a way that is best suited to their different needs; imposing uniformity across the nation would stifle the intent of the founding fathers, Wyden said.
Wyden said Roberts' comments fit with earlier comments Roberts made in a PBS interview about the Glucksberg case. Advertisement
"The federal government is limited," Roberts is quoted as saying in a transcript. "The end objective, as the framers intended, is to protect individual rights."
Discussion about role of Congress
Wyden said he talked with Roberts in general terms about the case of Terri Schiavo, the incapacitated Florida woman who died in April after a series of courts refused to order that her feeding tube be reinserted. Roberts indicated that he thought some members of Congress had overstepped their constitutional bounds when they proposed legislation to override the courts.
"I had to ask if it's constitutional for Congress to intervene with a specific remedy," Wyden said. Roberts was concerned about judicial independence. Congress can prescribe standards, but when Congress starts to act like a court and prescribe particular remedies in particular cases, Congress has overstepped its bounds, Wyden related.
Wyden said he took careful notes and extensive quotations from Roberts during their private meeting.
Though Wyden is not a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he had asked the White House for an interview with Roberts.
Wyden said he would withhold judgment on Roberts' nomination until public hearings are complete.
Jim Barnett: 503-294-7604; jim.barnett@newhouse.com
Roberts will do the obvious thing, and rule that it is a State issue, unless Congress passes a law that says otherwise. And even then, he'd have to ask the question what provision of the Constitution gives Congress that power.
I don't know if Wyden is telling the truth; Rush seemd certain he isn't.
But if it is true, it's one more thing to be concerned about.
Why would that be a concern?
It is NOT the Judiciaries place to determine if the act is moral or not.
They are there to decide if the law is being followed.
You are advocating judicial activism if this causes you "concern".
"But if it is true, it's one more thing to be concerned about."
I think the SCOTUS striking the Oregon law would be similar to it's ruling in Roe v Wade - ie an intrusion on the States Rignts to govern themselves. So what is it your concerned about?
Sorry, but suicide is now part of interstate commerce. If you kill yourself, then you stop buying things from across state lines.
Exactly.
I'm beginning to get really irritated with "conservatives" who really want judicial activists on the bench.
Hannity taking on NARAL WABC radio now.
Link: http://www.wabcradio.com/
Yep, if there is one thing for certain, Roberts knows our Constitution.
Sorry, crazyhorse...
Hannity taking on NARAL WABC radio now.
Link: http://www.wabcradio.com/
Good G-D, this man not only wants the right of a mother to kill her baby in the womb, he also wants the right to kill the baby's grandparents too.
It shouldn't matter what Roberts believes!
It should only matter if he has the ability to read the US Constitution.
I would agree with you if it were simply suicide, but it's physician-assisted suicide. Taht is giving someone lese the right to kill you on the pretext that you asked him to -- even if you didn't -- similar to the Schiavo case, only faster.
In neither case is that acceptable.
Actually in the Oregon law the doctor only gives you the medicine, one must take the responsability of taking it themselves. If you are physically unable to take the medicine yourself then you have to go out the old fashioned way (zonked out on morphine (for weeks)administered by a hospice nurse and/or family menber until you dehydrate or the fatal disease catches up with you)
Roberts is looking like another Souter. It's disturbing and will be one more notch of infamy for the Bush family of Presidents.
bttt
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