And all his minions, too.
Published: May 26, 2004
A federal appeals court today rejected an effort by the Justice Department to block the only law in the nation authorizing doctors to help their patients commit suicide.
The decision, by a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, upheld Oregon's Death with Dignity Act.
The majority used unusually pointed language to rebuke Attorney General John Ashcroft for overstepping his authority.
"The Attorney General's unilateral attempt to regulate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers," Judge Richard C. Tallman wrote for the majority, "interferes with the democratic debate about physician assisted suicide and far exceeds the scope of his authority under federal law."