Washington v. Glucksberg
- Decided
- June 26, 1997
- Docket
- 96-110
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 2,664 timesAbrogated on other grounds (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: abrogated on other grounds (not yet verified) · Syed v. Lee
What later courts said
- holding that the Due Process Clause “provides heightened protection against government interference with certain fundamental rights and liberty interests” — Charleston v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (2013)
- holding that courts should precisely define purported substantive due process rights to direct and restrain exposition of the Due Process Clause — Pickup v. Brown (2013)
- holding that terminally ill patients do not have a fundamental liberty interest in committing suicide — Js v. Dw (2001)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
[*705] Chief Justice Kehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented in this ease is whether Washington’s prohibition against “caus[ing]” or “aid[ing]” a suicide [*706] offends the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We hold that it does not.
It has always been a crime to assist a suicide in the State of Washington. In 1854, Washington’s first Territorial Leg [*707] islature outlawed “assisting another in the commission of self-murder.”[1] Today, Washington law provides: “A person is guilty of promoting a suicide attempt when he knowingly causes or aids another person to attempt suicide.” Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.36.060(1) (1994). “Promoting a suicide attempt” is a felony, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and up to a $10,000 fine. §§ 9A.36.060(2) and 9A.20.021(1)(c). At the same time, Washington’s Natural Death Act, enacted in 1979, states that the “withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment” at a patient’s direction “shall not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide.” Wash. Rev. Code §70.122.070(1).[2]
Statutes cited
Cite this
Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997)Read the full opinion
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