HE'S NO DOCTOR

Americans are fortunate to have a president who chose a physician to be his
attorney general, so he might render rulings on important medical issues
with real authority. Physician aid in dying, for example.

Oh, that's right, Attorney General John Ashcroft is not a doctor. He is a
rigidly "pro-life" Republican ideologue. Formerly, he was a U.S. senator
from Missouri who sniffed down every political alley he could find trying
to undermine the expressed will of Oregon voters for the "sin" of twice
affirming a physician-aid-in-dying law.

But having failed in legislative attempts to impose his personal beliefs on
citizen lawmakers, Ashcroft thought he might bully Oregon doctors as the
nation's top law enforcement officer - a job he won, incidentally, only
after losing his Senate seat to a man who died in a plane crash shortly
before the election. So, last fall, new judicial powers in hand, he issued
an order authorizing federal drug agents to go after doctors in Oregon who
prescribe lethal doses of drugs to the dying in full compliance with state law.

His brazen imposition of personal belief not only was hypocritical - he is
enthusiastic about "states' rights" when it comes to issues like abortion -
but cruel. Whether or not you support physician aid in dying, enforcement
of Ashcroft's order almost certainly would have led to more pain and
suffering for terminal patients, as doctors fearful of the feds grew overly
cautious with pain intervention.

With that November decision, "Dr." Ashcroft - who many thought should be
focusing on terrorism - imperiously ruled that physician aid in dying is
not "legitimate" medicine.

But not only is Ashcroft not a doctor, he's also not a dictator. On
Wednesday, a federal judge appointed by the first President Bush rejected
the attorney general's attempt to interfere with Oregon's law and sharply
chastised him and his congressional allies for overstepping their authority.

Ashcroft, Judge Robert Jones found, is not empowered to decide "what
constitutes the legitimate practice of medicine." The judge found that in
his zeal, the attorney general "did not consult with Oregon public
officials, provide notice to any of them or to the Oregon general public,
or provide opportunity for any public comment anywhere."

Jones also recognized the directive as a starkly cynical imposition of
personal politics and power. It was, he found, the result of congressional
pressure to "get through the administrative door what they could not get
through the congressional door, seeking refuge with the newly appointed
attorney general whose ideology matched their views."

The Justice Department is considering whether to appeal the decision, but
the smart money is that the indefatigable Ashcroft will attempt to continue
his crusade. He shouldn't.

Since it passed in 1997, Oregon's assisted-suicide law has played a direct
role in ending the lives of all of 70 terminally ill people. But many more
have obtained lethal, legal doses of drugs and never used them as anything
more than a comforting, available, self-chosen option.

Mr. Ashcroft doesn't have to approve of physician aid in dying. But he has
no business trying to dictate to those who do, or pretending he knows more
than legitimate medical experts or Oregon's voters.