The Rhetoric of Neutrality and the Philosophers’ Brief: A Critique of the Amicus Brief of Six Moral Philosophers in Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill

Authors

Richard Church

Abstract

Church discusses the amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in the companion assisted suicide cases of "Washington v. Glucksberg" and "Vacco v. Quill," in which six philosophers offer their views. The philosophers' charge--that prohibiting physician-assisted suicide can only be based on impermissible sectarian religious or ethical premises--can be raised against their "neutral" liberal argument itself.

Citation

Richard Church, The Rhetoric of Neutrality and the Philosophers’ Brief: A Critique of the Amicus Brief of Six Moral Philosophers in Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill, 61 Law and Contemporary Problems 233-248 (Fall 1998)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol61/iss4/12