It’s my party, I can die if I want to…

Posted on February 25, 2005 by David

With the right in a tizzy over, what is it today, oh, yes, that commy Clint Eastwood’s "political" statement on euthanasia, it is not without a little trepidation to know that the right-of-balance Supreme Court granted certiorari to the left coast (wacko) Ninth Circuit’s ruling that had insisted physician-assisted suicide should be left to the States. 

The Rehnquist Court’s legacy is avowedly one of States’ Rights (a term with a regretful history), meaning that New Deal legislation and the Warren Court’s expansive view of the Constitution have been pulled back over the course of my lifetime.  The Court’s assumed politically "neutral" view is that the federal government can only extend so far before impemissibly bumping up against the inherent authority of the States.  The laudable logic of this view, in fact, is the idea that each State can be a "laboratory" experimenting in novel ideas which, if effective, can infect society at large, and which would never otherwise gain political muster on a national scale.

That appears just to be what is going on with Oregon’s Death with Dignity law, so one might suspect that the rationale will cause the Court to agree that, indeed, John Ashcroft’s* politically-motivated extension of FDA authority (aimed, mind you, at preventing MD’s from giving me more codeine than I "need") is an abuse of power and unduly intrudes on the States.  Indeed the States historically have regulated the medical profession.

But of course, one would have expected the same when it came to States deciding how to run their own electoral process, and pundits surmise that medical marijuana may suffer the same fate shortly.  Politics, I fear, may trump coherency again on this one.  But don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.

*Ironic side note: the controlling precedent the Ninth Circuit used was a Supreme Court case involving Ashcroft as governor of Missouri where he successfully kept the Feds at bay.

» Filed Under Politics

Comments

One Response to “It’s my party, I can die if I want to…”

  1. tito on February 27th, 2005 10:37 pm

    For the other ignoratti out there:

    certiorari = a writ of superior court to call up the records of an inferior court or a body acting in a quasi-judicial capacity

    And thanks, Dave, for making my candle dimmer by burining yours so bright. farging bastich.

  • subscribe