Robert Baxter et. al v. State of Montana and Steve Bullock
Supreme Court of Montana
Case No. DA 09-0051
Two patients and four physicians sued the state of Montana claiming that there is a right to assisted suicide under the state’s constitution. A district court agreed, holding that a person’s right to dignity under the state constitution is “defeated” if not assisted in dying.
Americans United for Life coordinated the amicus briefs filed in support of defendants and appellants asking the Supreme Court of Montana to reverse the District Court decision. Some of these briefs accompanied by short summaries are enlisted on this page.
Amicus Briefs filed in support of Defendants/Appellants and reversal of the District Court
- Americans United for Life Amicus Brief
- Christian Legal Society and Christian Medical Association Amicus Brief
- Not Dead Yet Amicus Brief
- International Task Force on Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide Amicus Brief
- Alliance Defense Fund Brief
- Margaret Dore Amicus Brief
- Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation Amicus Brief
- The Institute for the Study of Disability & Bioethics Amicus Brief
Americans United for Llife Amicus Brief on behalf of Coalition of 28 Bi-Partisan Montana Legislators
On appeal before the Montana Supreme Court, AUL argued on behalf of a bi-partisan coalition of 28 Montana legislators that the district court failed to give proper weight to the unanimous decisions in other courts finding there is no right to assisted suicide. AUL argued that the state has a compelling interest in protecting the vulnerable and disabled in the state, and that the state’s prohibition of assisted suicide under its homicide statutes serves that interest.
Christian Legal Society and Christian Medical Association Amicus Brief
The Christian Legal Society and Christian Medical Association argue that the judicial creation of a right to physician assisted suicide imperils the rights of conscience of Montana medical professionals, potentially requiring them to assist in suicide despite deeply held ethical and religious objections. The brief urges the court to reverse the lower court's decision or, in the alternative, to also affirm a state constitutional right of medical professionals not to assist in suicide.
Not Dead Yet, Adapt, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, National Council on Independent Living and National Spinal Cord Injury Association Amicus Brief
Full Brief (PDF) located at http://www.cdrnys.org/images/files/montanabrieffnl.doc
Not Dead Yet argues that there is no legitimate state interest, let alone a compelling one, for finding a constitutional right to assisted suicide for all or some (e.g. "terminal") people with disabilities. It degrades the value and worth of people with disabilities and violates the antidiscrimination rights, protections and mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101, et seq.
International Task Force on Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Doctor Herbert Hendin and Professor Yale Kamisar Amicus Brief
The lack of transparency in its practice of assisted suicide renders Oregon an unreliable laboratory for assessing assisted suicide. The requirements in Oregon's law give a false impression of protection. Once assisted suicide is transformed from a crime into a medical treatment, the force of economic gravity assures that health insurance programs will more readily authorize it over more costly treatments patients need and want. Furthermore, legalized assisted suicide can mask domestic and elder abuse.
Alliance Defense Fund Brief on behalf of Family Research Council, American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Catholic Medical Associations and doctors D. Berdeax, R. Blevins, P. Gorusch, K. Morissette, C. Robertson, D. Perrin Roten, D. Skipper, S. Shaub, C. Treptow, J. Threatt, T. Warr and Ms. B. Cantu
ADF argues that judicially mandating assisted suicide is a drastic and unwarranted step under the Montana Constitution. Experience in the Netherlands shows that even a “regulated” assisted suicide regime endangers monumental abuses. Assisted suicide undermines patient autonomy, logically and practically. Nearly all requests for it are attributable to depression and are withdrawn upon proper treatment. Legalizing assisted suicide diminishes compassionate treatment of pain because while palliative care is available, assisted suicide encourages the elimination of patients themselves rather than of their suffering.
The Oregon Death with Dignity Act is not what it appears to be. The law enables people to pressure others towards death or even cause that death; individual "choice" is not ensured. The District Court's conclusion that the state's compelling interest in preventing involuntary killing is satisfied, is without factual basis and speculative.
Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation Amicus Brief
Compassionate Care Education Foundation focuses its analysis on the Court’s interpretation of art. II, sec. 10 and art. II sec. 4 of the Montana Constitution. They argue that nothing in the state constitutional right of privacy (art. II sec. 10) secures a right to assistance in committing suicide and the district court’s reliance on the Armstrong v. State to support its holding was misplaced.
Amici similarly argue that the district court’s reliance upon the “dignity” language of art. II, sec. 4, was also misplaced as the operative language of this section is embodied in the equal protection guarantee and the prohibition of certain forms of discrimination, neither of which is implicated by the prohibition of assisted suicide.
The Institute for the Study of Disability and Bioethics, The Bioethics Defense Fund, The Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund and Prof. Kristen Juras Amicus Brief
Amici argue that the core function of limited government is to protect its citizens. The legalization of suicide assistance for a category of persons deemed to have only alienable interests in the defense of life and liberty strikes at the heart of the relationship between the individual and the government by removing some, including those who object, from the law's full protection. The way is opened thereby to further governmental incursions on personal dignity. This Court should reverse the trial court's order and decision in order to preserve limited government in Montana.
