Members of Congress channel John McEnroe
In the 1925 case Linder v. United States, Dr. Charles Linder had been convicted for prescribing morphine and cocaine to addicts, which the federal government held was not a legitimate medical practice. Dr. Linder appealed, and the Supreme Court unanimously overturned his conviction, holding the federal government had no such power to regulate the practice of medicine.
“Obviously, direct control of medical practice in the states is beyond the power of the federal government,” wrote Justice James Clark McReynolds for the unanimous court. Even “Incidental regulation of such practice by Congress through a taxing act cannot extend to matters plainly inappropriate and unnecessary to reasonable enforcement of a revenue measure.”
The Linder case is often described as having been partially “overruled or superseded.” But the Constitution has never been amended to authorize such federal regulation. In fact, the rationale of the Linder case was used to stop the Department of Justice from interfering with Oregon’s assisted suicide laws in the 2006 case Gonzales v. Oregon.
via Vin Suprynowicz » Blog Archive » Members of Congress channel John McEnroe.
