640
Kennedy, J., dissenting
alty; and therefore they may be classed together." Id., at 397.
The point is well illustrated in Beazell v. Ohio, 269 U. S. 167 (1925), whose formulation of the Calder categories we later described as "faithful to our best knowledge of the original understanding of the Ex Post Facto Clause." Collins, 497 U. S., at 43. Beazell involved a retroactively applied law providing for joint trials for most felonies, with separate trials allowed only when requested by one of the defendants or the prosecutor, and only with the leave of the court. 269 U. S., at 168-169. The prior law had provided for separate trials whenever a defendant so requested. Id., at 168. Reviewing an ex post facto challenge to the new law, the Court noted that the first three Calder categories address "the criminal quality attributable to an act." 269 U. S., at 170. Applying this definition, the Court held the state statute did not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause because "[i]t does not deprive [the defendant] of any defense previously available, nor affect the criminal quality of the act charged. Nor does it change the legal definition of the offense or the punishment to be meted out." Ibid. In other words, the Ohio statute fell into none of the first three Calder categories. The second category, as the Beazell Court understood it, covered those retroactive statutes which "affect the criminal quality of the act charged [by] chang[ing] the legal definition of the offense." 269 U. S., at 170. The California statute challenged by petitioner changes only the timespan within which the action against him may be filed; it does not alter the criminal quality assigned to the offense.
The Court's opinion renders the second Calder category unlimited and the surrounding categories redundant. A law which violates the first Calder category would also violate the Court's conception of category two, because such a law would "inflic[t] punishments, where the party was not, by law, liable to any punishment." Ante, at 612 (emphasis deleted and internal quotation marks omitted). The majority
Page: Index Previous 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007