The U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold an Oregon law that permits assisted suicide under certain very limited circumstances. The decision was a defeat for the Bush administration which had sought to punish physicians who help terminally ill patients die.
The justices said that the Oregon law trumped the federal government's authority to regulate doctors.
The law has been used to help more than 200 patients end their lives since it was first passed. The Oregon statute is very specific: it only covers people who suffer from incurable diseases, whom at least two doctors agree have six months or less to live and are of sound mind.
In 2001, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft tried to have the law blocked, claiming that doctor-assisted suicide is not a 'legitimate medical purpose.'
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said the federal government does, indeed, have the authority to go after drug dealers and pass rules for health and safety but said that the narrow purpose of the Oregon law does not fit into that category.
