SCOTUS decides to dodge reconsideration of big confrontation clause issues

Many criminal justice court-watchers were keeping a close eye on this term's seemingly big Sixth Amendment confrontation clause case, Briscoe v. Virginia, based on the notion that the case would give the Justice a new opportunity to examine la st year's controversial, 5-4 decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.  But SCOTUS issued an opinion in Briscoe this morning that suggests that the Justices decided a dodge rather than a reconsideration is more appropriate right now.  Here is the full text of today's per curiam opinion in Briscoe:

We vacate the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U. S. ___ (2009).

Of course, as astute readers know, the Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause does not even technically apply in sentencing proceedings, so this is not formally a sentencing issue.  But it does provide another interesting tea leaf concerning how the addition of (former state prosecutor) Justice Sotomayor to the Supreme Court may (or may not) change how the Court does criminal justice business.