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Cite as:  602 U. S. ____ (2024) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to  notify  the  Reporter  of 
Decisions,  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Washington,  D. C.  20543, 
pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 22–899 
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JASON SMITH, PETITIONER v. ARIZONA 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF 
ARIZONA, DIVISION ONE 

[June 21, 2024] 

JUSTICE KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. 
The  Sixth  Amendment’s  Confrontation  Clause  guaran-
tees  a  criminal  defendant  the  right  to  confront  the  wit-
nesses against him.  The Clause bars the admission at trial 
of “testimonial statements” of an absent witness unless she 
is  “unavailable  to  testify,  and  the  defendant  ha[s]  had  a 
prior opportunity” to cross-examine her.  Crawford v. Wash-
ington,  541  U. S.  36,  53–54  (2004).    And  that  prohibition
applies in full to forensic evidence.  So a prosecutor cannot 
introduce an absent laboratory analyst’s testimonial out-of-
court  statements  to  prove  the  results  of  forensic  testing.
See  Melendez-Diaz  v.  Massachusetts,  557  U. S.  305,  307, 
329 (2009).

The question presented here concerns the application of
those  principles  to  a  case  in  which  an  expert  witness  re-
states an absent lab analyst’s factual assertions to support
his  own  opinion  testimony.    This  Court  has  held  that  the 
Confrontation Clause’s requirements apply only when the
prosecution  uses  out-of-court  statements  for  “the  truth  of
the  matter  asserted.”  Crawford,  541  U. S.,  at  60,  n. 9. 
Some state courts, including the court below, have held that
this condition is not met when an expert recites another an-
alyst’s statements as the basis for his opinion.  Today, we