| Vacco v. Quill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued January 8, 1997 Decided June 26, 1997 | |
| Full case name | Vacco, Attorney General of New York, et al. v. Quill et al. |
| Citations | 521 U.S. 793 (more) 117 S. Ct. 2293; 138 L. Ed. 2d 834 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Quill v. Koppell, 870 F. Supp. 78 (S.D.N.Y. 1994); reversed, Quill v. Vacco, 80 F.3d 716 (2d Cir. 1996); cert. granted, 518 U.S. 1055 (1996). |
| Holding | |
| States have a legitimate interest in outlawing assisted suicide; "liberty" defined in the 14th Amendment does not include the right to kill oneself, or assistance in doing so. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas |
| Concurrence | O'Connor, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer |
| Concurrence | Stevens |
| Concurrence | Souter |
| Concurrence | Ginsburg |
| Concurrence | Breyer |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV | |
Vacco v. Quill, 521 U.S. 793 (1997), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the right to die. It ruled 9–0 that a New York ban on physician-assisted suicide was constitutional, and preventing doctors from assisting their patients, even those terminally ill and/or in great pain, was a legitimate state interest that was well within the authority of the state to regulate. In brief, this decision established that, as a matter of law, there was no constitutional guarantee of a "right to die."