Final Exit Network v. Minnesota - 1st Amendment Right to Advise Patients on How to Hasten Death

I attended the November 30, 2018 hearing on Minnesota's motion to dismiss Final Exit Network's challenge to the Minnesota assisted suicide statute. Below, you see FEN general counsel Rob Rivas arguing before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy E. Brasel.

The focus of the hearing was on a wide range of standing issues ranging from collateral estoppel, to Rooker Feldman, to the 11th Amendment.

Rivas explained that he is not challenging or seeking re-review of FEN's conviction in state court. Instead, he is bringing an overbreadth challenge (which is one type of facial challenge). Rivas explained that a librarian who takes the book FINAL EXIT off the shelf and hands it to a patron would be guilty of assisted suicide in Minnesota (or at least in Dakota County). 

Moreover, there is a prospect that a FEN exit guide may be assigned to another Minnesota resident and therefore be subject to prosecution. Indeed, current exit guides have already asked Minnesotans to meet them outside Minnesota for counseling. The interpretation of the Minnesota assisted suicide statute to cover mere speech has already created a chilling effect.