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May 10, 2005
Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations Files Brief in U.S. Supreme Court
Supporting Attorney General’s Power to Override Oregon’s Assisted
Suicide Law
Today, the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America – the nation’s largest
Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization – through its Institute for
Public Affairs, joined other religious organizations in filing a
"friend of the court brief" in the United States Supreme Court
supporting the power of the U.S. Attorney General to block the
State of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation law permitting assisted
suicide.
At issue in the case of Gonzales v. Oregon is a November, 2001
directive issued by then-Attorney General Ashcroft to the D.E.A.
Administrator which reinstated the understanding of the federal
Controlled Substances Act that was in place until former-Attorney
General Reno issued a policy directive allowing the use of
federally controlled drugs for assisted suicides in June, 1998.
The Attorney General’s directive determined “that assisting
suicide is not a ‘legitimate medical purpose’ within the meaning
of [the Controlled Substances Act]” and, just as significantly,
the directive stated that the use of federally controlled drugs
for pain treatment ought to be “promoted.” The State of Oregon
challenged the directive in defense of its “Death With Dignity”
law and a federal trial court ruled in the State’s favor in April,
2001.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations has worked diligently
in recent years with other concerned groups such as the American
Medical Association and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to
achieve this policy goal. The Union worked on a bipartisan basis
with Senators Don Nickles (R-OK) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) to
achieve this result legislatively through the Pain Relief
Promotion Act of 2000, but was unsuccessful. The legal brief,
authored by attorneys at the Christian Legal Society, demonstrates
that assisted suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" which
might allow for the possibility of using federally controlled
drugs under federal law and further contends that Oregon has no
cognizable "state interest" which the federal government must
defer to regarding this issue.
Nathan Diament, director of the Union’s Institute, issued the
following statement in connection to the brief's filing: “The
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations supports the position taken
by the Attorney General and the Bush Administration, which pursues
a policy consistent with Jewish teaching, recognizing the infinite
value and sanctity of human life and seeking to preserve it, while
at the same time taking all responsible measures to comfort the
ill. The Bible instructs us to “surely heal” the ill, not to speed
their departure from this earth. The Attorney General’s directive
restricting the resort to physician assisted suicide was the
correct law and policy on this matter, and, we believe, well
within the power of the federal government to determine.”
The text of the brief will be available at
http://www.ou.org/public/Publib/briefs.htm More information
about the Union’s activities and the perspective of Orthodox
Judaism on this issue can be accessed at
http://www.ou.org/public/Publib/suicide.htm
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