Pitts v. Mississippi · ¶18

First, the court pointed to a victims' rights provision in Mississippi's State Constitution. 405 So. 3d, at 1246–1249. That provision affords the state legislature the power “to enact . . . laws to . . . protect the rights guaranteed to victims.” Art. 3, § 26A(3). And, the court observed, the state legislature exercised this power when it adopted the mandatory screening law the trial court applied in this case. 405 So. 3d, at 1249. But, true as all that may be, it is also irrelevant. When state law conficts with the Federal Constitution, the latter controls. Art. VI, cl. 2. And under the Sixth Amendment, neither state screening statutes, nor the “generalized finding[s]” on which they are premised, are enough to overcome a defendant's right to face-to-face confrontation. Coy, 487 U. S., at 1021.

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