Activist Judges

In a stunning reversal, the Bush administration is now actively courting activist judges. Not happy with a law that was overwhelmingly approved by the voters (twice), Gonzales & Co. have petitioned the high court to overturn the Oregon's 1997 Death With Dignity Act, which allows doctors to inject lethal doses of a controlled substance to end a terminally ill person's life.

The issue: States' Rights vs. Federal Government. Republicans are traditionally pro-States' Rights (abortion, gun law, age of consent), unless they're not (gay marriage, education or marijuana).


From today's NY Times:
The administration's appeal, Gonzales v. Oregon, No. 04-623, which is now filed under the name of Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto R. Gonzales, and which the Supreme Court will hear in October, argues that the Ninth Circuit's decision "stands the proper relationship between the federal and state governments under the Constitution on its head." The brief asked the court "to correct this serious misconception of the relative powers of state and federal governments."