Progress on Evidentiary Rules Reform in the States: Is It Needed and, if so, How Does It Get Done?

Legal disputes increasingly require the use of expert witnesses to explain what science says about the safety of various products and technologies. With billions of dollars and thousands of lives at stake, the way courts resolve scientific questions is important to everyone. However, courts apply widely varying standards from state to state for evaluating expert testimony.
Should judges act as protective gatekeepers to screen out possibly suspect science? Or should they take a lighter hand and trust juries to determine who is telling the truth? What should the standards be for state courts when exercising their gatekeeping functions over scientific evidence and expert testimony? Should the recent changes to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 be a model for states to adopt? What progress is being made in the field of expert evidence rule reforms in the states? Our panelists, Alexander R. Dahl and Lee Mickus, discuss these questions and more.