Cite as: 529 U. S. 513 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
The better understanding of Collins' discussion of the Ex Post Facto Clause is that it eliminated a doctrinal hitch that had developed in our cases, which purported to define the scope of the Clause along an axis distinguishing between laws involving "substantial protections" and those that are merely "procedural." Both Kring v. Missouri, 107 U. S. 221 (1883), and Thompson v. Utah, 170 U. S. 343 (1898)—the two cases Collins overruled—relied on just that distinction. In overruling them, the Court correctly pointed out, "the prohibition which may not be evaded is the one defined by the Calder categories." 497 U. S., at 46. Accordingly, Collins held that it was a mistake to stray beyond Calder's four categories, not that the fourth category was itself mistaken.28
VII
Texas next argues that even if the fourth category exists, it is limited to laws that retrospectively alter the burden of proof (which Article 38.07 does not do). See also post, at 572 (dissenting opinion). It comes to this conclusion on the basis of two pieces of evidence. The first is our decision in Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277 (1867). The second concerns Texas' historical understanding of Fenwick's case.
28 The dissent would have us dismiss our numerous and repeated invocations of the fourth category, see supra, at 525, because they were merely "mechanical . . . recitation[s]" in cases that did not depend on the fourth category. Post, at 568. Instead, the dissent would glean original meaning from Beazell v. Ohio, 269 U. S. 167 (1925), and Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U. S. 37 (1990). Post, at 567-568. First of all, the dissent is factually mistaken; Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277 (1867), relied on the fourth category in invalidating the laws at issue there. See infra this page and 540-541. And Hopt v. Territory of Utah, 110 U. S. 574 (1884) (discussed infra, at 542-547), specifically distinguished category four. See post, at 570-571 ("Hopt . . . retain[ed] Calder's fourth category"). Second, as mentioned above, neither Beazell nor Collins relied on the fourth category, so it is not apparent why the dissent would place so much emphasis on those two cases that did not depend on category four.
539
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