In 2009 a sharply divided Montana Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that physician-assisted suicide is not banned by state law, making Montana the third state to allow the practice after Oregon and Washington. The court upheld in part and reversed in part a lower court ruling, agreeing with the finding that physician-assisted suicide is not illegal under state law, but giving no opinion on the greater constitutional question addressed by the lower court. Instead, it found in a 4-3 decision that physician-assisted suicide was not rendered illegal under state statute or by public policy concerns. In November 2008, voters in Washington state approved a ballot initiative [JURIST report] that allows terminally ill, legally competent adults to obtain lethal prescriptions without exposing themselves, their physicians or others to criminal penalties. The Washington measure was modeled on neighboring Oregon's Death with Dignity Act [official materials], enacted in 1997 and upheld by the US Supreme Court [JURIST report] in 2006.