The New Mexico Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion (written by Justice Chavez) in Morris v. Brandenburg rejecting the claim that the New Mexico Constitution creates a right to assisted suicide.
Because the plaintiffs based their claim solely on the state constitution, they cannot petition the Supreme Court of the United States for review.
Justice Nakamura did not participate in this decision, which was argued before she was appointed to the court. District Judge James Hudson sat by designation to fill the seat vacated by Justice Bosson’s retirement.
Blair Miller of KOB has this report about the decision, and Scott Sandlin of the Albuquerque Journal has this report. The ACLU of New Mexico, which supported the plaintiffs’ challenge, issued this press release expressing disappointment at the decision. (I suspect there will be many more reactions to this decision over the next few days, and I’ll do my best to update this post later on.)
I’ve written about this case in previous posts: here, here, here, here, here, and here.
In the interests of full disclosure, I filed an amicus brief on behalf of a number of New Mexico state legislators opposing the recognition of any right to assisted suicide.
