Samia v. United States

Samia v. United States
Samia v. United States
	Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 29, 2023; Decided June 23, 2023
Full case name	Adam Samia, aka Sal, aka Adam Samic v. United States
Docket no.	22-196
Citations	599 U.S. 635 (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Opinion announcement	Opinion announcement
Questions presented
	Whether the admission of a codefendant's redacted out-of-court confession that immediately inculpates a defendant based on the surrounding context violates the defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment.
Holding
	The Confrontation Clause was not violated by the admission of a non-testifying codefendant’s confession that did not directly inculpate the defendant and was subject to a proper limiting instruction.
Court membership
	Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Samuel Alito; Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan; Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh; Amy Coney Barrett · Ketanji Brown Jackson
Case opinions
Majority	Thomas, joined by Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh; Barrett (all but Part II–A)
Concurrence	Barrett (in part)
Dissent	Kagan, joined by Sotomayor, Jackson
Dissent	Jackson
Laws applied
	U.S. Const. amend. VI

Samia v. United States, 599 U.S. 635 (2023), was a

United States Supreme Court case related to the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[1]

Background

Adam Samia was tried along with two codefendants for the murder of a real-estate agent that took place in the Philippines. Both of Samia's codefendants admitted to participating in the murder, but disputed the government's jurisdiction over the crime. Samia, however, maintained his innocence.

The

murder for hire

, and conspiracy to commit murder for hire.

Samia appealed to the

United States Courts of Appeals had split on the question of whether a codefendant's redacted out-of-court confession must be assessed in isolation or in a broader context when determining when a violation of the Confrontation Clause

has occurred.

On August 30, 2022, Samia petitioned the

United States Supreme Court

for a writ of certiorari, which was granted on December 13, 2022. Oral arguments were held on March 29, 2023. On June 23, 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed the Second Circuit in a 6–3 decision.