Supreme Court Clinic Case Argues That Forensic Laboratory Reports May Not Be Presented In Court Through Surrogate Testimony

On March 2, 2011 the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic appeared on behalf of the petitioner in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, a case which raises the question whether the prosecution in a criminal case violates the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause when it introduces a nontestifying forensic analyst’s report through the in-court testimony of a different analyst. Clinic co-director Jeffrey Fisher argued on behalf of Mr. Bullcoming, and law students Masha Hansford, Jud Campbell, Kyle Maurer and Jacqueline de Armas, who helped write the clinic’s briefs, attended the argument.

The past briefs are available here.

To view the argument transcript, visit SCOTUSblog here.