January 18, 2006
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Physician-assisted suicide in Oregon was upheld 6-3 by the Supreme Court Tuesday. This allows people in Oregon who are mentally competent and diagnosed as terminally ill to continue to have the option of asking a physician to prescribe them with a lethal dose of drugs. More than 200 Oregon residents have relied on the law to end their lives since 1997, when the measure took effect. The high court, in its decision, said former Attorney General John Ashcroft overstepped his authority in November 2001 when he rewrote regulations under the federal Controlled Substances Act making it illegal for Oregon doctors to prescribe drugs to help a patient die. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who upheld the law, wrote, “The authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design,” The idea that Congress gave the attorney general such broad and unusual authority through an implicit delegation in the [Controlled Substances Act's] registration provision is not sustainable.” Justice Antonin Scalia, who dissented(along with Justice Clarence Thomas and John Roberts), said, “Virtually every medical authority from Hippocrates to the current American Medical Association confirms that assisting suicide … is not a ‘legitimate’ branch of that science and art.”"If the term ‘legitimate medical purpose’ has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death.” This has caused states like Vermont and California to have bills pending in their legislature and has caused Washingtion to consider doing the same. But its unlikely to pass, considering the Terri Schiavo controversy from last year.
Speaking of Vermont they have been in the news recently because of Judge Edward Cashman’s ruiling to only give a 6 month sentence to a man who raped a girl for four year until she was 10 years old(she’s now 11). With all due offense if this was Florida that sicko who did that to that poor girl would have gotten probably 25 years. We would have layed the rule of law down to this subhuman. Anyone who would rape a child under any circumstances gets no forgiveness from me and I don’t consider him human. That judge needs to reexamine his priorites. This girl isn’t going to be the same, this is going to haunt her for the rest of her life and this creep gets a free pass by only serving six months. They say he is a low-risk offender excuse me are they nuts. Anyone who rapes a girl deserves to serve hard time. This all comes down to treatment for the criminal(which is totally absurd) no treatment is going to stop him from doing this possibily to another child. This proves whether your a conservative or liberal judge you can pose a ridiculous ruiling. This judge of all things is conservative, what happened to stiff justice for hardened criminals, I guess both sides get it wrong. Also where are the politicians and organizations on the left and the right, I have heard hardly anything from them. Its very sad when you need news commentators, like Bill O’Reilly who has been on this judge and on this idiotic ruiling, why can’t our constituents in D.C. help fight this injustice?
