Crawford is no Watershed

The Court says it again - it has still not yet seen a new rule that falls within Teague's second exception. In today's ruling in Whorton v. Bockting, Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. delivered the opinion on behalf of a unanimous Court, holding that "Crawford announced a 'new rule' of criminal procedure and that this rule does not fall within the Teague exception for watershed rules." Alito notes that the exception is "extremely narrow" quoting the language that no such rule has yet emerged, and stating "in the years since Teague, we have rejected every claim that a new rule satisfied the requirements for watershed status." The Court notes that only something as fundamental as the right to indigent counsel rule of Gideon v. Wainwright might satisfy it; "while Gideon effected a profound and “ ‘sweeping’ ” change other rules that do not alter the bedrock or foundations of our criminal system simply do not qualify.

Here is a link to the opinion - http://howappealing.law.com/Whorton2007.pdf