Robert C. Rufo, Sheriff of Suffolk County, et al. v. Inmates of the Suffolk County Jail, et al.

Decided January 15, 1992. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-954 · 502 U.S. 367 (1992) · Cited 1,152 times

Holding

The Confrontation Clause does not require that, before a trial court admits testimony under the spontaneous declaration and medical examination exceptions to the hearsay rule, either the prosecution must produce the declarant at trial or the trial court must find that the declarant is unavailable.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• United States v. Swift & Co. · 286 U.S. 106 (1932)
• System Federation No. 91 v. Wright · 364 U.S. 642 (1961)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 349 U.S. 294 (1955)
• Board of Ed. of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell · 498 U.S. 237 (1991)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 433 U.S. 267 (1977)
• Local Number 93, International Ass'n of Firefighters v. City of Cleveland · 478 U.S. 501 (1986)
• Missouri v. Jenkins · 495 U.S. 33 (1990)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Hutto v. Finney · 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
• Thornburgh v. Abbott · 490 U.S. 401 (1989)
• MacKey v. United States · 401 U.S. 667 (1971)
• National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States · 435 U.S. 679 (1978)
• United States v. Armour & Co. · 402 U.S. 673 (1971)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 418 U.S. 717 (1974)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 411 U.S. 192 (1973)
• Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts · 467 U.S. 561 (1984)
• Pasadena City Board of Education v. Spangler · 427 U.S. 424 (1976)
• United States v. United Shoe MacHinery Corp. · 391 U.S. 244 (1968)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Horne v. Flores · 557 U.S. 433 (2009)
• Agostini v. Felton · 521 U.S. 203 (1997)
• Frew Ex Rel. Frew v. Hawkins · 540 U.S. 431 (2004)
• Texas v. New Mexico · 602 U.S. 943 (2024)
• Denton v. Hernandez · 504 U.S. 25 (1992)
• Suter v. Artist M. · 503 U.S. 347 (1992)
• Miller v. French · 530 U.S. 327 (2000)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).