Editorial Now the hard part

...Third, as those on both sides of the issue acknowledge, comprehensive steps must be taken to improve palliative care for the dying...

...All the justices endorsed judicial restraint in last month's rulings, cautioning against the recognition of any new constitutional rights not "deeply rooted in this nation's history and tradition" or "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty...

...Americans are now free to disagree with one another about the legal status of assisted suicide and euthanasia without one side being told that it is advocating the violation of someone's constitutional rights...

...Benefits...

...In a further and grisly reminder of how crucial informed public opinion is to protecting the dying and the psychologically vulnerable, Dr...

...But that unavoidable as-pect of democratic politics should be a spur to greater involvement and clarity, not a discouragement...

...Moreover, in eschewing much of the logic of its previous abortion rulings, the Court allows that deliberation to take place on a relatively level playing field...

...Previous experience with a magazine, small business, in-nonprofit organization is a plus...

...Not all of our fellow citizens- not even all Catholics-share this understanding...

...that in some cases we can do little but confess our helplessness...

...Public opinion polls suggest that Americans generally favor a "right to die," especially if unrelieved and "pointless" pain is involved...

...In upholding the con-stitutional right to abortion in Casey, the Court asserted that the Fourteenth Amendment protected the fundamental liberty interest of every citizen concern-ing "matters involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy...

...Depression must be better diagnosed and treated, and ending the social isolation of the dying should be everyone's business...

...That history and heritage should compel us to engage one another in a respectful and honest democratic debate about "choices central to per-sonal dignity...

...Let religious people and others opposed to physician-assisted suicide concede that these issues are not merely black and white...

...Second, the dangers of lowering the bar-rier against any direct killing must be better explained, es-pecially the vulnerability of the poor and marginalized in a nation where more than 30 million are without health insur-ance...

...Interested applicants should send a resume and a letter describing his or her suitability for the position and ac-quaintance, if any, with the magazine...

...Jack Kevorkian dispatched another willing sui-cide-seeker on the very day the Court announced its decisions...

...But, as many observers were quick to add, and the Court itself noted, the decisions do not end the public battle over as-sisted suicide and euthanasia, but send it back to state legislatures and "permit this debate to continue, as it should in a democratic society...

...In all likelihood, the emotionally difficult and ethically subtle issues involved will be further blurred by the rough and tumble of state-by-state deliberation...

...Depression and social isolation must also be recognized as among the primary mo-tivations behind the desire of the terminally ill to end their lives...

...Catholics and other believers can draw on rich spiritual traditions that value the redemp-tive meaning of suffering...

...EDITORIALS Now the hard part welcome news indeed was last month's unanimous Supreme Court re-versal of two appeals courts' findings (Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill) that had endeavored to establish a constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide...

...But with that level playing field comes the added responsibility and burden of making opposition to medical killing as morally persuasive as possible...

...That should be a gratifying change for those who have rightly resisted the legacy of Roe v. Wade...

...In declining to find that the Constitution guarantees a right to die or that terminal-ly ill patients have a fundamental liberty interest in physician-assisted suicide, the Court has dramatically refused to follow the flawed logic of its abortion ju-risprudence, especially Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992...

...The unanimous character of the decisions cannot be empha-sized enough...

...The genuine humanitarian instincts of those who have embraced various forms of euthanasia should not be belittled even if they need to be resisted...

...At the same time, let us con-tinue to insist that the worst possible answer to the agoniz-ing questions that face all of us at the end of life is to legalize a whole category of private killing...

...10115...

...Effective pain management is quite fea-sible in all but the rarest of cases...

...Perhaps not...

...In formulating a right to assisted suicide in Washington v. Glucksberg, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit merely extended the logic of Casey to the "problem" of dying, surely one of the "most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime...

...405, New York, N.Y...

...Please include ref-erences and salary requirements...

...ously defended, as in fact the Supreme Court did in reject-ing the superficial reading and dismissal of that distinction by the lower courts...

...If our attitudes and practice concerning sui-cide or euthanasia are to depart from long-established religious, medical, and legal traditions-and we think they should not-at least the result will be a product of demo-cratic deliberation, not judicial fiat...

...Four-day work week...

...First, the distinction between physician-assist-ed suicide and withdrawing futile treatment must be vigor-Business Nanager: Ccwmfomtva/is looking lora new business manager, someone with promotion and business skills committed to working with a small staff and a limit-ed budget to ensure the financial future of the magazine...

...The business manager will work with the staff on a wide-variety of tasks...

...Referenda and legislative debates in other states are sure to follow...

...These include marketing and promotion, circulation, fund-raising, development, and general busi-ness matters, as well as supervising the business staff...

...Applications or suggestions should be sent to: Editor, Commonweal, 475 Riverside Drive, Rm...

...Readers are invited to join in our search by pass-ing on this announcement or by letting us knew of poten-tial candidates...

...Finally, opponents of physician-assisted suicide and eu-thanasia should not reject out of hand the well-document-ed assertion that in rare circumstances the suffering of the terminally ill cannot be relieved...

...But the Court's decisions certainly will make a difference, and a positive one, when it comes to the shape and tenor of the public debate ahead...

...Confronted with the logical consequences of Casey's loose language, the nine justices balked...

...Kevorkian, a man no jury seems willing to convict of facilitating the deaths of dozens, many of whom were not terminally ill, has boasted that the Supreme Court ruling will "not make one damn bit of difference" as far as he's concerned...

...In other words, on a question as fundamental as how we die, the Court has decided that Americans are not abstract subjects defined first by their auton-omy rights, but citizens belonging to a society with a history and a moral tradi-tion...

...Those opposed to the legalization of assisted suicide have their work cut out for them...

...Oregon has already legalized assisted suicide and will vote on the question again this fall...