Gonzales v. Oregon

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the case of Gonzales v. Oregon, sure to be one of the most important cases the new Roberts Court will deal with in it’s first term. The question presented is whether the federal government has the authority to preempt the state of Oregon’s assisted suicide law under the Controlled Substances Act. More specifically, can the Justice Department prevent physicians within the state of Oregon from prescribing certain drugs banned under the CSA to terminally ill patients?

The short and simple answer to this question is no, the federal government cannot preempt the Oregon law. Under the Tenth Amendment Oregon can pass and enforce just about any law that it and it’s residents desire.

This does not mean however that the state action in this case is immune from federal influence or interference. If a doctor prescribes a drug that is banned under the CSA, and is or has been in the interstate commercial market, the federal government has the power to step in and prevent that drug from being prescribed and used. In other words, the federal government may act so long as it’s action is a legitimate and valid means in achieving it’s legitimate, constitutionally-authorized end, which in this regard is regulating interstate commerce.

The federal government’s reach and authority ends here though. If the Oregon law in question were to permit doctors to prescribe non-CSA banned drugs and/or those drugs are not tangibly interstate nor commercial----in terms of their cultivation, transport, and consumption----than the federal government has no reach or authority in the matter. Put simply, the federal government cannot substantively prevent Oregon from legalizing doctor-assisted suicide within the state. What it can do, under authority of the Commerce Clause, is prohibit certain drugs from being prescribed for the purpose of assisted-suicide provided those drugs are a tangible aspect of the interstate, commercial drug market. Absent this, the federal government has no leg on which to stand.