Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court upheld Oregon’s one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die.

Justices, on a 6-3 vote, said that federal authority to regulate doctors does not override the 1997 Oregon law used to end the lives of more than 200 seriously ill people. New Chief Justice John Roberts backed the Bush administration, dissenting for the first time. | story

Charles Dharapak / AP

Ruth Gallaid, from Eugene, Ore., shows support for physician-assisted suicide in front of the Supreme Court on Oct. 5, 2005. The Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006, upheld Oregon’s one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die.