Free Republic

A Republican lawmaker once described Democratic Assemblywoman Patty Berg as "the nicest person in the Legislature, bar none" - just before he voted against one of her bills. Berg, 63, approaches her colleagues with a warm demeanor honed by years spent working as a social worker and as a leader of community organizations. But that doesn't mean the Eureka lawmaker shrinks from a battle. And she is on the verge of facing a big one this year: With the U.S. Supreme Court clearing the way in January for states to make their own laws on the issue of assisted suicide,...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. Supreme Court ruling backing Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law gives a major boost to a similar measure languishing in the California legislature since last year, lawmakers said on Tuesday. "I believe we will get this bill passed this year and signed by the governor," said Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, co-author of a law to allow state residents to obtain lethal medication if they had less than six months to live. Levine, a Democrat, spoke after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected legal arguments by the Bush Administration seeking to strike down Oregon's pioneering Death with Dignity Act....