WASHINGTON V. GLUCKSBERG 521 U.S. 702 (1997) CASE BRIEF

WASHINGTON V. GLUCKSBERG

521 U.S. 702 (1997)

NATURE OF THE CASE: Glucksberg et al (P), were patients and doctors who sought a declaration that Washington State's (D) ban on assisting suicide was unconstitutional. D appealed holdings that is statute was unconstitutional.

FACTS: D passed a law that made it a felony to promote a suicide attempt by knowingly causing or aiding another person to attempt suicide. P and other doctors opposed this law in that it prohibited them from aiding their terminally ill patients in ending their lives. P asserted the existence of a liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment which extends to a personal choice by a mentally competent, terminally ill adult to commit physician-assisted suicide. The District Court agreed, and concluded that d's assisted suicide ban is unconstitutional because it 'places an undue burden on the exercise of [that] constitutionally protected liberty interest.' A panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, emphasizing that, [i]n the two hundred and five years of our existence, no constitutional right to aid in killing oneself has ever been asserted and upheld by a court of final jurisdiction. The Ninth Circuit reheard the case en banc, reversed the panel's decision, and affirmed the District Court. The en banc Court concluded that the Constitution encompasses a due process liberty interest in controlling the time and manner of one's death -- that there is, in short, a constitutionally recognized 'right to die.' The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

ISSUE:

RULE OF LAW:

HOLDING AND DECISION:

LEGAL ANALYSIS:

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