174
Breyer, J., dissenting
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U. S. 579 (1993). Article IV of the Federal Rules, which concerns relevance, liberalizes the rules for admission of relevant evidence. See id., at 587. The Rules direct the trial judge generally to admit all evidence having "any tendency" to make the existence of a material fact "more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Fed. Rules Evid. 401, 402. The judge may reject the evidence (assuming compliance with other rules) only if the probative value of the evidence is substantially outweighed by its tendency to prejudice a party or delay a trial. Rule 403. The codification, as a general matter, relies upon the trial judge's administration of Rules 401, 402, and 403 to keep the barely relevant, the time wasting, and the prejudicial from the jury. See, e. g., Abel, supra, at 54 ("A district court is accorded a wide discretion in . . . [a]ssessing the probative value of [proffered evidence], and weighing any factors counseling against admissibility"); 1 Weinstein's Evidence, supra, ¶ 401[01] (discussing broad discretion accorded trial judge); 22 C. Wright & K. Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure § 5162 (1978 and 1994 Supp.).
In Daubert, this Court considered the rule of Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (CADC 1923), which had excluded scientific evidence that had not gained general acceptance in the relevant field. 509 U. S., at 585-586. Like the premotive rule here at issue, the Frye rule was "rigid," setting forth an "absolute prerequisite to admissibility," which the Court said was "at odds with the 'liberal thrust' of the Federal Rules." Id., at 588. Daubert suggests that the liberalized relevancy provisions of the Federal Rules can supersede a pre-existing rule of relevance, at least where no compelling practical or logical support can be found for the pre-existing rule. It is difficult to find any strong practical or logical considerations for making the premotive rule an absolute condition of admissibility here. Perhaps there are other circumstances in which categorical common-law rules serve the purposes of Rules 401, 402, and 403, and should, accordingly,
Page: Index Previous 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007