Supreme Court conservatives argue for expanded government

This is the way things are going these days-- we have to depend on progressives to fight not only for the issues that liberals hold dear, but for the issues that genuine conservatives hold dear. Bush Republicans still love to claim that 'big government' is the real enemy of pretty much everything. Freedom, the Constitution, religion, upward mobility, you name it.

Exhibit A is today's Supreme Court decision that restricted an over-reaching federal attempt to overrule a state decision, with the pro-government faction consisting of (gasp!) Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas.

The Supreme Court delivered a rebuff to the Bush administration over physician-assisted suicide today, rejecting a Justice Department effort to bar doctors in Oregon from helping terminally ill patients end their lives under a 1994 state law.

In a 6-3 vote, the court ruled that then-U.S. attorney general John D. Ashcroft overstepped his authority in 2001 by trying to use a federal drug law to prosecute doctors who prescribed lethal overdoses under the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, the only law in the nation that allows physician-assisted suicide. The measure has been approved twice by Oregon voters and upheld by lower court rulings.

Faced with two federal court decisions against his position, Ashcroft brought the case to the Supreme Court on the day he announced his resignation in November 2004. The case was continued by his successor as attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales.

Ahhh, for the convenience of standing for convictions only when it's convenient.