 Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion of the Court , which spoke for eight justices in reversing the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals . Warren began by stating that the Court had never been " previously called upon to decide whether the right of the accused to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ... is so fundamental [ that ] it is incorporated in the Due Process Clause " . Because of the incorporation to states of other procedural guarantees , the " right to offer the testimony of witnesses " could be given no less weight . Warren wrote that it was critical to the ability to " present a defense ... [ a ] defendant 's version of the facts " . This broad right was necessary to detail thoroughly , he wrote , because ignoring how the right would be actually be applied would risk making the right to compel witnesses futile . 
