Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts

Justice Kennedy,

with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Breyer, and Justice Alito join, dissenting.

The Court sweeps away an accepted rule governing the admission of scientific evidence. Until today, scientific analysis could be introduced into evidence without testimony from the “analyst” who produced it. This rule has been established for at least 90 years. It extends across at least 35 States and six Federal Courts of Appeals. Yet the Court undoes it based on two recent opinions that say nothing about forensic analysts: Crawford v. Washington, 541 U. S. 36 (2004), and Davis v. Washington, 547…