News Release

Contact: Death with Dignity National Center
communications@deathwithdignity.org / (503) 228.4415

PORTLAND, OR— This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s petition for Writ of Certiorari (Cert Petition) in Oregon v. Gonzales (formerly Oregon v. Ashcroft; Alberto Gonzales succeeded John Ashcroft as U.S. Attorney General earlier this month).  The litigation was initiated by the Justice Department in the autumn of 2001.  This means that Oregon’s first-in-the-nation Death with Dignity law is headed to the nation’s highest court.

Justice Department officials maintained that Oregon’s Death with Dignity law violates the Controlled Substances Act.  The State of Oregon and the Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) sued.  A U.S. District Court Judge ruled in favor of Oregon and the National Center in 2002.  The Justice Department appealed and two years later, the Ninth Circuit Court again upheld the rights of the terminally ill and state-regulated medical practice.  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft eventually appealed his case to the Supreme Court.

 “This is an opportunity for the Death with Dignity law to win at the highest level, to finally be validated on a national stage.  We are confident that states’ rights and the rights of the terminally ill will carry the day,” said Portland attorney Eli D. Stutsman, who represents an Oregon physician and pharmacist on behalf of the Death with Dignity National Center.  “The people of Oregon voted twice on this law and the courts have consistently ruled in its favor.  The law has operated flawlessly for seven years (next month Oregon’s Department of Health & Human Services will release its annual report on the law’s use).  The Death with Dignity law has been a catalyst to improved end-of-life care – in Oregon and across the nation.”  

The Death with Dignity National Center is prepared to meet this newest court challenge.  DDNC has been the vanguard for Oregon’s law, having worked to successfully propose, pass and defend Death with Dignity since 1994.

Stay informed on the progress of this historic case, efforts to pass Death with Dignity laws in other states, and end-of-life care, online at www.deathwithdignity.org.

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