Has the Residual Exception Swallowed the Hearsay Rule?

In 1982, Professor David Sonenshein was one of the first scholars to analyze the growing body of case law applying the residual exception to the hearsay rule. 1 His Article—The Residual Exceptions to the Federal Hearsay Rule: Two Exceptions in Search of a Rule (hereinafter “Residual Exceptions”)—provided a step-by-step analysis of the elements of the residual exception. 2 Residual Exceptions surveyed and critiqued the early prevailing interpretations of the rule and demonstrated a growing trend where courts were endorsing interpretations of the exception in a manner inconsistent with the original intent and purpose of the rule. In Residual Exceptions, Professor Sonenshein argued, and some courts agreed, 3 that the federal courts “have neither interpreted nor applied the