Cite as: 523 U. S. 303 (1998)
Stevens, J., dissenting
truth is more likely to be arrived at by hearing the testimony of all persons of competent understanding who may seem to have knowledge of the facts involved in a case, leaving the credit and weight of such testimony to be determined by the jury or by the court, rather than by rejecting witnesses as incompetent, with the result that this principle has come to be widely, almost universally, accepted in this country and in Great Britain." Rosen v. United States, 245 U. S. 467, 471.
See also Funk v. United States, 290 U. S. 371, 377-378 (1933). It was in a case involving the disqualification of spousal testimony that Justice Stewart stated: "Any rule that impedes the discovery of truth in a court of law impedes as well the doing of justice." Hawkins v. United States, 358 U. S. 74, 81 (1958) (concurring opinion).
State evidentiary rules may so seriously impede the discovery of truth, "as well as the doing of justice," that they preclude the "meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense" that is guaranteed by the Constitution, Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 683, 690 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted).16 In Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U. S. 284, 302
16 "Whether rooted directly in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Chambers v. Mississippi, [410 U. S. 284 (1973)], or in the Compulsory Process or Confrontation clauses of the Sixth Amendment, Washington v. Texas, 388 U. S. 14, 23 (1967); Davis v. Alaska, 415 U. S. 308 (1974), the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants 'a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.' California v. Trombetta, 467 U. S. [479, 485 (1984)]; cf. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 684-685 (1984) ('The Constitution guarantees a fair trial through the Due Process Clauses, but it defines the basic elements of a fair trial largely through the several provisions of the Sixth Amendment'). We break no new ground in observing that an essential component of procedural fairness is an opportunity to be heard. In re Oliver, 333 U. S. 257, 273 (1948); Grannis v. Ordean, 234 U. S. 385, 394 (1914). That opportunity would be an empty one if the State were permitted to exclude competent, reliable evidence
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