Washington ( CNN ) -- Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan once believed a federal law to ban physician-assisted suicide was a `` fairly terrible idea . '' The handwritten remarks were part of more than 46,000 documents released Friday , as Senate lawmakers prepare for confirmation hearings for the 50-year-old Kagan . The memos detailed Kagan 's service in President Bill Clinton 's Domestic Policy Council , which advised the White House inner circle on a range of issues pending in Congress and the courts . As deputy to then director Bruce Reed , Kagan offered legal and political advice on an agenda that included abortion , tobacco legislation , AIDS , consumer protections and healthcare . At issue was a federal challenge to Oregon 's 1994 Death with Dignity Act allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to assist patients to commit suicide . The law , which passed a state referendum by a slim margin , survived multiple court challenges and attempts to blunt its effectiveness , including a second referendum in 1997 that would have repealed it . Sixty percent of Oregon 's voters rejected the repeal attempt . But in early 1998 , the Clinton administration was prepared to support the argument that Oregon 's referendum was acceptable and that federal authorities had no power -- under the Controlled Substances Act ( CSA ) -- to block doctors from prescribing lethal doses of drugs . In a January 16 , 1998 , memo from the Justice Department , Clinton officials laid out their case , despite internal concerns the law was an improper preemption of federal power . At the top of the document , Kagan added her thoughts . `` DOJ [ Justice Department ] is ready to opine that Oregon doctors who assist suicides are not violating the Controlled Substances Act ( This is contrary to an initial DEA [ Drug Enforcement Administration ] ruling , '' wrote Kagan . `` We need to decide whether to accompany this ruling with a request for new legislation making assisted suicide a federal crime . I think this is a fairly terrible idea , but I know Begala likes it . '' Kagan , in the memo , does not specify why she opposed that idea . `` Begala '' is Paul Begala , a longtime Clinton political adviser . He is now a political contributor for CNN and a Democratic party strategist . She signed her remarks with `` Elena . '' Conservative groups expressed initial concern over this and other memos outlining Kagan 's often blunt views on hot-button issues . `` It shows her as a political thinker , which was her role at the time , '' said Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network . `` But as someone who has never been a judge , it is something to look out for , if her approach on the bench will be politically driven . It can be hard to change that role , to become a fair arbiter of the law and not be a judicial activist . '' The high court the year before the Kagan memo upheld state bans on assisted suicide , concluding there was nothing in the Constitution supporting an individual 's right to die . But the ruling left open the possibility of state referendums supporting the practice , and Oregon 's measure went into effect after numerous appeals and injunctions . The Bush administration in the 2000s -- backed by a Republican-led Congress -- vigorously took up the issue to make assisted suicide a federal crime and to challenge the Oregon law , eventually appealing all the way to the Supreme Court . The justices in January 2006 ruled against the federal government , dismissing the argument the U.S. attorney general has the power to block Oregon 's then-unique law . Medical groups and patient right advocates supported Oregon , while many religious conservatives backed the Bush administration .
Kagan memo on doctor-assisted suicide part of 46,000 documents from Clinton years . Notes were response to Justice Department case on Oregon law . Conservatives concerned that memo suggests Kagan might by 'judicial activist ' Supreme Court ultimately upheld Oregon assisted suicide law .