Confronting the Court: The Supreme Court, the Confrontation Clause, and the Ways They Interact

Abstract

The Confrontation Clause, a collection of eighteen words contained within the Sixth Amendment, protects the right of the criminally accused to "be confronted with the witnesses against" him or her. Yet, as decades of Supreme Court litigation have sought to redefine this right, the meaning of the Confrontation Clause has changed noticeably. This paper seeks to determine what reasons may underlie the Supreme Court's decisions in Confrontation Clause litigation. By examining data collected from Supreme Court cases between 1953 and 1997 that deal with Confrontation, this paper uncovers the ideological tone of the lower court's opinion as one possible predictor of judicial decision-making of the Supreme Court.