Rule 402: General Admissibility of Relevant Evidence

Rule 402 establishes the default rule: if evidence is relevant, it comes in; if it is irrelevant, it stays out. This is the starting presumption for all evidence questions.

However, 402 immediately qualifies this default by listing four sources that can override it: the Constitution (e.g., due process or confrontation rights), federal statutes, the Federal Rules of Evidence themselves (such as Rules 403-415, hearsay rules, privilege rules), and other Supreme Court rules. So relevant evidence is admissible unless one of these higher authorities says otherwise.

This rule works hand-in-hand with Rule 401. Together they create a two-step process: first determine if evidence is relevant (401), then check whether any rule or law excludes it despite its relevance (402). In practice, most evidence disputes are about whether some exclusionary rule applies, not about whether the evidence is relevant in the first place.