What is the current state of the law on the construction of the evidence offered by the US Department of Justice?

The cases cited by the majority in support of its construction of the evidence offered by the government are inapposite. In United States v. Weaver, 594 F.2d 1272 (9th Cir.1979), for example, we held that Weaver's presence in a truck containing cocaine, standing alone, was not sufficient to establish his knowledge of and participation in a conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine. Id. at 1274-75. However, we did not hold that such evidence had little probative value when considered along with other relevant evidence of a defendant's connection to a conspiracy. Weaver was decided under the pre-Bourjaily no-bootstrapping rule, which barred the district court from considering the challenged hearsay statements when assessing the weight of the foundational evidence offered by the government. Thus, the district court could not evaluate the evidence of Weaver's presence in the vehicle in the light of relevant hearsay evidence implicating him in the conspiracy. Indeed, in Weaver the only evidence, apart from the hearsay statements indicating that Weaver was in any way connected to the conspiracy, was his presence in the vehicle. Unlike the present case, there was no evidence suggesting that Weaver's co-conspirators regarded him as their "source" or attempted to contact him for the purpose of obtaining cocaine.