Cite as: 512 U. S. 594 (1994)
Scalia, J., concurring
In light of this disposition, we need not address Williamson's claim that the statements were also made inadmissible by the Confrontation Clause, see generally White v. Illinois, 502 U. S. 346 (1992), and in particular we need not decide whether the hearsay exception for declarations against interest is "firmly rooted" for Confrontation Clause purposes. Compare, e. g., United States v. Seeley, 892 F. 2d 1, 2 (CA1 1989) (holding that the exception is firmly rooted), with United States v. Flores, 985 F. 2d 770 (CA5 1993) (holding the contrary). We note, however, that the very fact that a statement is genuinely self-inculpatory—which our reading of Rule 804(b)(3) requires—is itself one of the "particularized guarantees of trustworthiness" that makes a statement admissible under the Confrontation Clause. See Lee v. Illinois, 476 U. S. 530, 543-545 (1986). We also need not decide whether, as some Courts of Appeals have held, the second sentence of Rule 804(b)(3)—"A statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal liability and offered to exculpate the accused is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement" (emphasis added)—also requires that statements inculpating the accused be supported by corroborating circumstances. See, e. g., United States v. Alvarez, 584 F. 2d 694, 701 (CA5 1978); United States v. Taggart, 944 F. 2d 837, 840 (CA11 1991). The judgment of the Court of Appeals is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.
So ordered.
Justice Scalia, concurring.
I join the Court's opinion, which I do not understand to require the simplistic view of statements against penal interest that Justice Kennedy attributes to it.
When analyzing whether evidence can be admitted under the statement-against-penal-interest exception to the hearsay rules, the relevant inquiry must always be, as the text directs, whether the statement "at the time of its making . . .
605
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