Cite as: 529 U. S. 513 (2000)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
quantity." Weiler, 323 U. S., at 608. If the Court wishes to rely on the fourth Calder category to render Texas' altered evidentiary rule prospective only, it should do so forthrightly by overruling Hopt and Thompson v. Missouri, rather than by attempting to portray Article 38.07 as a quantitative sufficiency rule indistinguishable from the two-witness requirement that figured in John Fenwick's case.
* * *
In sum, it is well settled (or was until today) that retroactive changes to rules concerning the admissibility of evidence and the competency of witnesses to testify cannot be ex post facto. Because Article 38.07 is in both function and purpose a rule of admissibility, Thompson v. Missouri, Hopt, Beazell, and Collins dictate that its retroactive application does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause. That conclusion comports perfectly with the dual purposes that underlie the Clause: ensuring fair notice so that individuals can rely on the laws in force at the time they engage in conduct, and sustaining the separation of powers while preventing the passage of vindictive legislation. The Court today thus not only brings about an "undefined enlargement of the Ex Post Facto Clause," Collins, 497 U. S., at 46, that conflicts with established precedent, it also fails to advance the Clause's fundamental purposes. For these reasons, I dissent.
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