A new ruling came down on Monday from a San Diego court, when the judge dismissed  a lawsuit against the state on behalf of three terminally ill Californians seeking doctor-prescribed fatal medication.

This was a blow to assisted suicide campaigners, especially since a bill making the practice legal foundered recently in the State Senate. 

Fenit Nirappil,  the statehouse reporter in Sacramento for the Associated Press, joined the show to talk about the history and context of the debate in California.