Assisted Suicide Cases Handed Down

[R. Shawn Gunnarson]

Given the religious implications of assisted suicide, I thought list
members would like to know that he Supreme Court just handed down
decisions in both Washington v. Glucksberg--the challenge was based on
the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause--and Vacco v. Quill--the
challenge was based on the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection
Clause.  In each case the Court upheld the laws as constitutionally
valid.  In both cases Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of
the Court, in which O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas joined.
O'Connor, filed concurring opinions, in which Ginsburg and Breyer,
joined in part. Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer filed opinions
concurring in the judgment.