Prosecutors and legal experts are panicking, fearing that murderers will go free, that thousands of drug and drunk-driving cases are going to be dismissed, and that ths sky will fall in on us all. Justice Kennedy, writing for the dissent warns, "Guilty defendants will go free, on the most technical grounds, as a direct result of today's decision." The governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, announced Wednesday that he is calling a special session of his state's General Assembly to address the decision.

Surprisingly, however, Texas already requires live witnesses as opposed to certificates of forensic analysis under Cole v. State. Forensic lab analysts have been required to come to court to be cross-examined by defense attorneys in our state since 1990. The sky has not fallen, defendants still plead guilty in healthy numbers, cases are often won by the State, and I haven't seen any cell doors fling open to let swarms of murderers and rapists go free.

In other words, guaranteeing the accused their Sixth Amendment right to confrontation should not radically alter the nation's criminal justice system. It will ensure that lab reports and scientists can be meaningfully tested so juries can get the truth.