Alicia Bannon

Massachusetts’s supreme court ruled last week that the state violated religious freedom guarantees when it vaccinated a child in its custody over parental objections.  

Wisconsin trial Judge Hannah  Dugan’s high‑profile arrest renews focus on the impact of ICE enforcement inside state courthouses.

Citing the state’s health care freedom amendment, the court ruled that Ohio’s restrictions on transgender youth care violate the state constitution.

An election for an open seat on Wisconsin’s high court has become the most expensive judicial race in history, highlighting the rising national stakes and increasing politicization of state judicial elections.

As the Trump administration tries to assert unprecedented influence over education, the ruling reminds us that most educational policy is set at the state and local levels.

States — and their courts — quietly shape and check federal power.

The losing candidate for a seat on the high court is trying to have more than 60,000 valid votes thrown out. 

Students and faculty have sued UCLA and UC Santa Cruz for shutting down encampments.

Voter approval of an amendment is often just one step in lengthy legal and political wrangling over state abortion rights.

The results of 2024's state ballot measures reveal mixed voter opinions on abortion, workers’ rights, and direct democracy.

Courts in battleground states are weighing in on how and whether votes in this election will be counted.

The Pennsylvania high court heard oral arguments about whether the sentence violated the state constitution the same week that Colorado’s supreme court rejected similar claims.

So far, only 2 out of 28 cases on the high court’s docket arise from state courts, a surprisingly low number given the regularity with which state courts hear cases implicating federal rights.

Two new essays unpack recent state supreme court cases about the relationship between direct democracy and the power of state legislatures.

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently clarified the limits of “taxpayer standing” in a case challenging the restoration of voting rights to 60,000 people with felony convictions.

Some of the Court’s most important holdings — including on abortion, gun restrictions, and presidential immunity — have implications for state courts and constitutions. 

Pennsylvania is not the only state struggling to meet its constitutional obligations to provide representation to people who can’t afford it. 

Judicial elections have become major political battlegrounds — complete with dark money, special interests, and attack ads — thanks to several U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

State courts have long provided more search and seizure protections than the U.S. Supreme Court — and they sometimes influence federal law.

Free speech protections found in state constitutions could offer broader rights to protesters than the First Amendment.

A symposium grapples with practical barriers to state constitutional development.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling has breathed new life into long-unenforced abortion laws.

At issue was a series of state laws passed in 2021 that created new hurdles for voting, such as eliminating Election Day voter registration and a ban on paid absentee ballot collection.

Nevada became the second state in as many months to issue a major abortion ruling based on the state constitution’s equal rights amendment.  

Our new Election 2024 page that will collect stories that explain, contextualize, and track all the ways state courts and constitutions matter this election season. 

The decision is an extension of fetal personhood protections that have existed and been enforced in Alabama — and many other states — since before Dobbs. 

Quoting the TV show The Wire, the Hawaii Supreme Court observed, “The thing about the old days, they the old days.”

A series of State Court Report essays analyze the broader implications of the ruling.

Kate Cox sought an emergency abortion after learning her fetus has a fatal genetic condition. Her case illustrates an emerging set of battles to define the scope of legal exceptions to strict state abortion bans.

State and federal courts differ not just in the substantive rights they recognize but also in how they define judicial power.

Two new explainers examine voting rights under state constitutions and how state courts oversee ballot initiatives.

The outcome could have big implications for abortion rights, elections, and more.

A footnote in a recent opinion could signal a new method for analyzing state constitutional claims.

Justice Janet Protasiewicz declined to recuse herself from a challenge to the state’s legislative maps, while Republican legislators may be stepping back from impeachment threats.

Florida is one of several places where prosecutors are being targeted because of their charging decisions.

The new commentary, news, and resource hub covers state constitutional developments nationwide.

State courts have had a busy summer, with key rulings on abortion, guns, and environmental rights.

Maine’s protections could be used as a stealth vehicle to thwart gun restrictions.

The Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence has come to obscure what started as robust state constitutional protections.

This term, the justices considered cases with widely varying outcomes and major implications for state courts.

Ohio legislators aim to head off an abortion rights constitutional amendment.

The high court struck down an occupational licensing law under the state Due Process Clause.

Washington innovates on peremptory strikes.

The court also upheld voter ID and felony disenfranchisement.

Two lawsuits seek relief from climate change using state constitutions.

Republican state legislators threaten to upset long-standing norms of judicial independence.

Significant decisions come down in Oklahoma and North Dakota.

“Peaceable and orderly” isn’t the same as “respectful and courteous.”

North Carolina’s reconfigured supreme court will hear two recently decided democracy cases.

Washington State’s chief justice discusses balls and strikes, diversity on the bench, and the role of state courts in protecting rights.