Last Wish: Fascistcroft's last-ditch appeal to overturn Oregon's rights

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http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=6763842

By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to uphold Attorney General John Ashcroft's power to stop Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide, despite a state law allowing such assistance.

Oregon is the only state to allow physician-assisted suicide and since 1998 it has enabled more than 170 people to end their lives.

In appealing to the high court, administration lawyers argued that Ashcroft correctly construed federal law to prohibit distribution of lethal controlled drugs to assist suicides, regardless of the state law.

The move had been expected after a U.S. appeals court in San Francisco ruled in May that Ashcroft's directive was unlawful and unenforceable, and that he had overstepped his authority.

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