Justice Stevens joined the Court's decision. He stated, though, that he issued a separate opinion only to clarify his belief that there was the possibility of further debate on the constitutional limitations of a state's ability to punish assisted suicide. As the second-most senior Justice on the Court (after Chief Justice Rehnquist), it is likely that Stevens would have written the opinion himself had Rehnquist not elected to do so. This much is suggested by the length of Stevens' concurrence which runs several pages (official format) longer than Rehnquist's opinion. It is possible that the Chief Justice was in part persuaded to exercise this ability by the fact that Stevens' concurrence offers a less concrete view of the state's ability to regulate euthanasia than the majority of the Justices seem to support.