SACRAMENTO - California state lawmakers praised a 6-3 ruling by the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday that rejected Bush Administration attempts to strike down Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.

“I am elated by the news,” said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, who has jointly authored a bill that would give terminally ill Californians the same right enjoyed in Oregon. “I think this will definitely help the momentum we’ve been building in support of our bill.”

The justices ruled on a years-old case brought by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, in which he argued that the federal government could override Oregon’s approval for the use of prescription medication to help a terminally ill patient to hasten their own death. A significant majority of the court rejected Ashcroft’s argument.

“Some of our colleagues said we should wait until we’ve heard from the court,” said Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, joint author of AB 651, the California Compassionate Choices Act. “We waited. And we’ve heard. Now the right thing to do is to pass this bill.”

“This makes it plain that it’s up to the states in general, and to the state legislatures in particular, to deal with this issue,” said Berg. “Oregon passed it’s act through the initiative process. I hope California can pass its act through the Legislature.”

By mid-day Tuesday, reporters were asking for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s position on the ruling. The governor remained noncommittal, but did not reject the idea of signing the bill into law. He said he would withhold his opinion until after seeing the specific language of the bill.

“I’m happy to hear that the governor has an open mind on this issue,” said Levine. “We hope to send him a very carefully crafted bill that he can put his name on.”

Recent polling suggests nearly three of four Californians support the idea of allowing mentally competent, terminally ill adults who have less than six months to live to seek and obtain medication to hasten their own deaths, as allowed by the bill.