Something Old and Something New: Exploring the Recent Amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence

This article provides a practical, nuts and bolts approach to understanding the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence and the proposed changes to Rule 807, with a focus on the policy rationale behind the new rules and pointers for how the new rules can affect evidentiary foundations. The article first addresses the amendment to Rule 803(16), providing the policy reasons prompting the change and offering alternative means of assessing hearsay issues for documents that will not meet the new threshold requirements. In Part II, this article analyzes the new self-authentication Rules 902 (13)-(14). The section begins with a discussion of the problems prompting the adoption of the new rules, then breaks down the requirements to satisfy the elements of the rules. This section then provides examples of the new rules\u27 application, and concludes with an analysis of potential Confrontation Clause issues raised by the amendments. Finally, this article sets forth the proposed amendments to Rule 807, the residual hearsay exception provision, and discusses the policy rationale behind the proposed changes