RSS

17 January 2006

When you lie down with dogs...

From the L.A. Times:
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's challenge to the nation's only right-to-die law today and ruled Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft overstepped his authority when he sought to punish the Oregon doctors who helped terminally ill people end their lives.

The 6-3 decision was a victory for states and their independent-minded voters, and a defeat for social conservatives.

New Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in his first significant decision, joined Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in dissent.
What a shocker. Roberts wastes no time jumping into bed with Scalia and Thomas to try to insert the Federal government into individual medical decisions. Who would've thought a Bush nominee would weigh in on the side of the theocrats? Apparently not Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon (Thanks to BlueOregon):
The Oregonian, 08/10/05...Supreme Court nominee John Roberts declared that, in cases dealing with end-of-life care, he would "start with the supposition that one has the right to be left alone," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said after the two met for an hour Tuesday. ...

Roberts told Wyden that he would look closely at the legislative history of federal laws and would be careful not to strip states of powers they traditionally have held -- such as regulating the practice of medicine, Wyden said.

"You don't get the impression from how he answered that he'd let somebody stretch a sweeping statute like the Controlled Substances Act," Wyden said. ...

Roberts said the basic genius of the federal system is that it affords states the ability to approach problems in a way that is best suited to their different needs; imposing uniformity across the nation would stifle the intent of the founding fathers, Wyden said.
Well, Sen. Wyden, how does it feel to get Levin-ed? You remember your colleague, Carl Levin, don't you? He went along with Lindsay Graham on stripping detainees of the ability to use habeas corpus to challenge their indeterminate detentions with the understanding that it would only apply to new cases. In what should have been a surprise to no one (except, apparently, Carl Levin), only days after the law's passage, the administration moved to throw out all pending habeas cases, as well.

Now, we're faced with A-lie-to, a nominee (who's made it perfectly clear that he'll say anything to get a job) from a president who has no regard for the laws and the Constitution, let alone his own word. How many times will Dems like Levin and Wyden decide that they have to find out for themselves that the lit burner is hot?

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...