Mike Wallace, whose 60 Minutes broadcast a tape of a mercy-killing by Dr Jack Kevorkian in 1998, won’t say how (Kevorkian, now serving 10-25 years in a Michigan prison, is forbidden to talk to the press) he obtained it, but he’s given a copy of a letter Chief Justice Rehnquist received from Kevorkian to the New York Review of Books, which published excerpts:

“As a secular profession medicine is relevant to the full spectrum of human existence from conception through

death. Any arbitrary legal constriction of that relevance is irrational, cruel, and barbaric. As guardians of

human rights, you and your colleagues have the authority, opportunity, and obligation to rid society of this

lingering medieval malady by using the Ninth Amendment to guarantee this most precious and humane

right of choice for all Americans. “ [thanks to David Walker]