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![handle is hein.crs/crsaipb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21888
July 19, 2004
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Confrontation Clause Reshaped:
Crawford v. Washington
Estela I. Velez Pollack
Legislative Attorney
American Law Division
Summary
In Crawford v. Washington, 124 S.Ct. 1354 (2004), the United States Supreme
Court held that to admit hearsay testimonial evidence in criminal prosecutions the Sixth
Amendment, the Confrontation Clause, requires that (1) the witness be unavailable and
(2) the accused had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. This decision
overruled Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56 (1980), where the Supreme Court had advanced
a test requiring only that the statement from unavailable witnesses fall within a firmly
rooted hearsay exception or bore particularized guarantees of trustworthiness in order
to be admissible. In Crawford, the Court conducted an historical analysis of the
Confrontation Clause concluding that a prior opportunity to cross-examine was a
necessary condition for testimonial statements to be admitted against an accused. The
Court held that admitting statements on a judicial finding of reliability was contrary to
constitutional requirements. The Court declined to provide a comprehensive definition
of testimonial, but provided some examples, such as testimony at a preliminary
hearing, before a grand jury, or at a former trial, or statements made during police
interrogations. This report provides a summary of the Court's ruling.
Background
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Confrontation Clause,
provides that [i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be
confronted with the witnesses against him.. .' Its purpose is to ensure that an individual
who has been accused of a crime has the opportunity to test the reliability of testimony
presented against him or her by cross-examining the witness. In Crawford v.
Washington,2 the Court held that the Sixth Amendment does not allow hearsay3
1 U.S. CONSTITUTION, Amendment VI.
2 124 S.Ct 1354 (2004).
3 Hearsay is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or
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