Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts

The Court relied on its decision in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) in affirming that the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause, at a minimum, “guarantees a defendant’s right to confront those “who ‘bear testimony’ against him.” The Court found that “[T]here is little doubt that the documents at issue in this case fall within the ‘core class of testimonial statements’…” As affidavits, such as these here, that are created to establish evidence in a criminal proceeding are “testimonial,” their submission alone, absent some other rule or standard of law, fails to meet the Sixth Amendment standard. The Sixth Amendment “commands, not that evidence be reliable, but that reliability be assessed in a particular manner: by testing in the crucible of cross-examination… (citing Crawford).”