SCOTUS: Dying victim's ID of shooter not testimonial; Scalia goes appropriately crazy in dissent

Michigan v Bryant, __ US ___, 09-150 [available here]

In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court yesterday held that a dying shooting victim's identification of his shooter, in response to direct police questioning, is not "testimonial" under Crawford and its progeny, and therefore the officer's testimony about the identification did not violate the Confrontation Clause.  The majority (in a decision written by Justice Sotomayor) holds that the primary purpose of the officer's questioning was not to elicit testimony or develop evidence that could be used to prosecute the shooter, but rather to meet an ongoing emergency, i.e. to apprehend the shooter and to protect the public from a gun-toting fugitive.

Justice Scalia--proud poppa of Crawford and chief architect of the recent Confrontation Clause jurisprudence-- calls shenanigans in a blistering dissent.  He calls the majority's interpretation of the facts "so transparently false that professing to believe it demeans this institution . . . In its vain attempt to make the incredible plausible, today's opinion distorts our Confrontation Clause jurisprudence and leaves it in shambles."

The New York times has an article up about the decision here.