[12/11/1996–09/23/1997]: 42-t-26444785-20060476F-001-002-2013

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W~at ar; they going to do when a state like Oregon, perhaps, legalizes
assisted suicide? You're going to see a real clash of principles here.
MR. DONALDSON: Before we get to that, Linda.
MS. DOUGLASS: (Inaudible) -- is the right of a state to make laws on
assisted suicide. In other words, you can ban assisted suicide, you can
pass a law to make it legal, and so what this is all about, as Bill is
saying, is giving the devolving the power back down to the states in a
very dramatic way.
MR. DONALDSON: I want to ask you about the Religious Freedom Act. ,I
mean, the name sounds ,wonderful. I mean, it also is a First Amendment
'freedom.
What's wrong with the Religious Freedom Act?
MS. DOUGLASS: Well, certainly there's a fascinating coalition of those
who disagree with what the court says, that is, that if laws are
technically neutral on religion, then they should be able to that
religion should be able to flourish under those laws. You shouldn't be
able to make a law that prohibits a practice in religion like the smoking
of peyote by some Indian groups or the wearing of 'certain clothing by some
religious groups.
So in that sense, there are those who really feel that this erodes
religious freedom. But obviously, the court has said here that the
Congress went too far granting a religious freedom right that doesn't
exist in the Constitution.
MR. DONALDSON: Well, going back to assisted suicide, the court did not
say that you could not practice it in states.
MS. DOUGLASS: Right.
MR. DONALDSON: It simply said that there is no constitutional right to
have a doctor assist you in your suicide.
MR. WILL: And this was a very wise flinching from making the mistake
they made in Roe v. Wade, which was to put themselves on a path to saying
all intimate, decisions are the exercise of choice in those
matters is a fundamental constitutional right. They've stopped short of
doing that now. ' ,
MR. DONALDSON: Anything about the court's decision to sort of punt when
it came to the line-item veto? Members of Congress had applied, saying it
was unconstitutional. The court said, in effect, you don't have
MR. WILL: They said, look, no one's been injured by this yet; wait till
the president exercises it. '
MR. STEPHANOPOULOUS: Then they'll strike it down.
MR. WILL: Then they'll strike it down in a New York minute, I think.
MR. KRISTOL: In the meantime, one thing people haven't noticed is that
in the ,meantime, Bill Clinton has the line-item veto. And we',re about to
have 13 appropriations bills and a budget by the Congress over. the
next four months,with President Clinton for the first time in U.S. '
history, the having the abil to line-item veto particular
appropriations. So the practical con~equences of their jurisdictional
decision in refusing to decide the case could be pretty significant in
this year's budget
MS. DOUGLASS: But all we need is one person to say that person was
injured by this act of the president executing his right.
MR. DONALDSON: This dam wasn't built.
MS. DOUGLASS:
'MR. DONALDSON: This flood control project was not authorized.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOUS: Then we'll see another 9-0 decision.
MR. DONALDSON: That's right. Well, is there anything finally to say
about these justices? I
MR. STEPHANOPOULOUS: I would like to add one other point. You kriow, you
talked about devolution, and I think there's a very interesting study this
week by a man named Ed Lazarus (ph) in --U.S: News, " who points out that
a lot of this has to do with the regional bias.
You now have a majority on the court which is made up of Westerners and
Southerners who are very suspicious of the federal government. They're
joining a majority a't every level of government. The president and vice
president are Southerners, leadership in Congress from the South, and I
think you're really when you look back on this time an end to the
reconstruction era and a real threat, 'I think, to the federal government's
ability to protect everyone'S liberties.
MR. DONALDSON: Well, let's hold it right there. We'll be ,back with
more, including something on ear biting. And later, David Brinkley.
MR. BRINKLEY: The U.S. and all the world say they want clean air. From
Japan, maybe this will heIr. Shortly.
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