Cite as: 539 U. S. 166 (2003)
Scalia, J., dissenting
from conviction. See Flanagan, supra, at 266. As Riggins demonstrates, that is not the case here. The interlocutory appeals in Abney and Helstoski were justified on the ground that it was appropriate to interrupt the trial when the precise right asserted was the right not to be tried. See Abney, supra, at 660-661; Helstoski, supra, at 507-508. Petitioner does not assert a right not to be tried, but a right not to be medicated.
B
Today's narrow holding will allow criminal defendants in petitioner's position to engage in opportunistic behavior. They can, for example, voluntarily take their medication until halfway through trial, then abruptly refuse and demand an interlocutory appeal from the order that medication continue on a compulsory basis. This sort of concern for the disruption of criminal proceedings—strangely missing from the Court's discussion today—is what has led us to state many times that we interpret the collateral-order exception narrowly in criminal cases. See Midland Asphalt Corp., supra, at 799; Flanagan, 465 U. S., at 264.
But the adverse effects of today's narrow holding are as nothing compared to the adverse effects of the new rule of law that underlies the holding. The Court's opinion announces that appellate jurisdiction is proper because review after conviction and sentence will come only after "Sell will have undergone forced medication—the very harm that he seeks to avoid." Ante, at 176-177. This analysis effects a breathtaking expansion of appellate jurisdiction over inter-locutory orders. If it is applied faithfully (and some appellate panels will be eager to apply it faithfully), any criminal defendant who asserts that a trial court order will, if implemented, cause an immediate violation of his constitutional (or perhaps even statutory?) rights may immediately appeal. He is empowered to hold up the trial for months by claiming that review after final judgment "would come too late" to prevent the violation. A trial-court order requiring the de-
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