Gonzales V. Oregon Case Study

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Gonzales v. Oregon is a Supreme Court case that took place in 2005, with the verdict and dissenting opinions stated in January of 2006. The case is about the General Attorney’s ruling of a medical practice to be illegal. The Attorney General at the time was John Ashcroft, appointed under President George Bush Jr., who authorized that the usage of lethal doses of medicine on terminally-ill patients to be illegal under the Controlled Substance Act in 1970. The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 is a federal United States drug policy which limits the usage of certain medications in a variety of ways. (Oyez, n.d.). Oregon comes into play when they passed the Death with Dignity act which granted terminally-ill patients to be able to consent to taking …show more content…

The majority opinion was delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Agreeing with Kennedy were Justices Stevens, O’Connor, Scouter, Ginsburg, and Breyer. Kennedy stated that the intention of the CSA was not to “define general standards of medical practices”. They determined that the CSA was established in efforts of limiting the drugs themselves, not the medical decisions associated with the drugs. The dissenting opinion was delivered by Justice Scalia and was joined by Justices Roberts and Thomas. They declared that John Ashcroft had “sufficient grounds” for the interpretation of the Controlled Substance Act and the conclusions made after said interpretation (Scalia, 2006). Justice Scalia had made three grounds on which the Attorney General was able to make his interpretation valid. Additionally, John Ashcroft was covered by the statutory phrase “public health and safety” in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. and the ruling in that said case. Griswold v. Connecticut was a court case that set the precedent for the right to privacy in 1965. It was ruled in a 7-2 vote that the Constitution does not mention the right to privacy, yet a few Amendments put together conclude that there is a right to privacy in marital relations. This case was important in selective interpretation, giving the right to privacy in many instances (Oyez,

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