Burke J. Balch, J.D. serves as Director of the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics which specializes in euthanasia-related issues and is associated with the National Right to Life Committee. He has worked as Attorney-Advisor for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, helping to write a report on denial of life-saving medical treatment to children with disabilities ("Baby Doe" cases). He was Chief Staff Counsel for the National Legal Center for the Medically Dependent and Disabled, and worked as a lawyer for Americans United for Life Legal Defense Fund. A law review article he co-authored was repeatedly quoted by the United States Supreme Court in support of its 1997 decision that there is no federal constitutional right to assist suicide. In addition, Attorney Balch has published articles on abortion, on ethical issues related to withholding and withdrawal of food, fluids, and life-saving medical treatment, and on advance directives