Does the new Court standard really protect our rights?
The June 16 Supreme Court decision in the celebrated forced drugging case of Dr. Charles Sell set off a mix of jubilation, confusion, and frustration among both advocates and opponents of involuntary medication. The 6-3 decision overturned two previous rulings allowing Sell's forcible drugging to stand trial for 63 counts of fraud. Sell's case differs from previous forcible medication cases, such as last February's Eighth Circuit court decision allowing the forcible drugging of murderer Charles Singleton to make him sane for execution. A dissenting judge called that decision a "barbarity." Sell, on the other hand, is non-dangerous and accused of nonviolent crimes.