Role Reversal: The Supreme Court on Physician Aid-in-Dying

But the Department lost, and resoundingly.  And that decision confirms what Americans across this country already believe-a free people must limit the federal government's ability to insert itself into, or undermine an individual's right to make, important personal medical decisions. Patients must be free of government intrusion into private counsel with their doctor, their family, and their faith. 

Support for physician aid-in-dying is both deep and wide.  Consistently, polls tell us that 75 percent or more of the public supports the right of competent, terminally ill patients to make end-of-life decisions for themselves, including the right not to extend the dying process if they choose.  And this supports cuts across all lines: old and young, liberal and conservative. 

A rich irony of this week's high court decision is that the declared conservatives on the Court - Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and John Roberts - abandoned conservative principles, while the liberals and moderates (including the opinion's author, Justice Anthony Kennedy) exalted them.

We've heard from the federalists and conservatives for decades, including in recent nomination hearings, about the importance of checking unitary Executive Branch power, leaving decisions to the states, getting the government "off the backs" of our families and property, and strictly construing statutes.  But, sadly, when the pen meets the parchment, even Supreme Court justices will abandon those principles when they lead to a substantive result - in this case, terminally ill patients taking control of their own dignity - that is inconsistent with their own ideology.

At Compassion & Choices, we are working to provide accurate, honest information to families around the nation grappling with one of the most wrenching decisions we deal with in life: the question of how we die.  So I'm gratified that the Court reached this principled conservative decision, even without the participation of the so-called conservative justices. 

We must continue to support efforts to pass aid-in-dying legislation in California and Vermont to ensure that more Americans have access to the much-needed safeguards offered in Oregon.  We must continue to provide education to Americans about the importance of end-of-life care planning, from preparing advanced directives to aid-in-dying.
  
We call on our conservative friends who agree with our position to stand up for their conservative principles and support us as we fight to give more Americans the excellent care and broad choices Oregonians have. As Americans, such freedoms belong to us all.