Evidence

This year's survey must begin, as have most recent surveys, with a lament over the decreasing number of noteworthy Eleventh Circuit decisions addressing evidentiary issues. In stark contrast to the days when the Eleventh Circuit rigorously examined district court evidentiary decisions and freely reversed those decisions, the Eleventh Circuit now studiously defers to district court judges. The abuse of discretion standard, which has always been the standard of review of a district court's evidentiary rulings, has become the standard of review in practice as well as in name.