Villarreal v. Texas · ¶46

Having rejected Villarreal's frontline argument (that the Sixth Amendment affrmatively protects access to testimony management during an overnight recess), we also reject his backup. Even if the Sixth Amendment's protection does not itself span the full range of topics that might come up during a midtestimony recess, Villarreal asks for a prophylactic rule bubble-wrapping what the Sixth Amendment does protect. In Villarreal's view, a line dividing discussion of testimony from discussion of other topics is “no line at all.” Brief for Petitioner 25. And so Villarreal fears that conferral orders like the one at issue here will operate to chill protected discussion in effect even if they do not do so formally. Villarreal thus demands a bright-line rule permitting no restrictions overnight.

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