Christian Science Monitor reviews the case in great detail. Ashcroft Ashcroft II is going after the Oregon law with vigor.
The Bush administration and key members of Congress argue that prescribing a lethal drug for purposes of suicide violates the federal Controlled Substances Act, and that this trumps state law and the long-held position that medical practices are to be regulated by the states.
A federal judge and then the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that position. To do so, the appeals court ruled, “interferes with the democratic debate about physician-assisted suicide.”