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Criminal Law
Criminal justice is administered primarily at the state and county level. The vast majority of incarcerated people in the United States are in county and state custody. Constitutional challenges in state courts usually focus on the rights of defendants and incarcerated people.
These cases can address criminal procedure and due process, search and seizure, the right to counsel and a jury trial, criminal jury rights, the right against self-incrimination, bail and excessive fees and fines, admissibility of evidence, sentencing, the death penalty, police misconduct, prison conditions, and habeas.
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Back-to-School Scholarship Roundup: State Courts, Constitutional Law, and Federalism
Recent books and law review articles discuss voter disenfranchisement, separation of church and state, and much more.
Tribal Courts and Constitutions of American Indian Tribes
Tribal courts and constitutions shape governance for American Indian tribes, balancing sovereignty with federal law in their unique legal systems.
The Lawsuits to Expel Texas’s Democratic Lawmakers Lack Any Support
The governor and attorney general’s claims that the state supreme court should expel lawmakers who fled the state to stop the legislature from gerrymandering congressional districts are unsubstantiated and contradictory.
State Justices Continue to Challenge Originalism
A lively debate about the value of “history and tradition” in analyzing cases is ongoing in state courts. Some justices are pushing for alternative interpretative methodologies.
The New Jersey Constitution: A Tool of Good Governance, Not Partisan Politics
A 1947 constitution offered a needed update for a state saddled with a weak executive and a court system “out of Dickens.”
Recent State Judicial Opinions Critique Lockstepping
Justices in Connecticut, Texas, and Pennsylvania have called on their courts to embrace independent state constitutional interpretations.
Disability Rights Under State Constitutions
Thirty-five years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, state constitutional anti-discrimination clauses, voting rights, and educational guarantees can expand protections for people with disabilities.
States Grapple with the Death Penalty
More people have been executed in 2025 than in any year of the past decade. But some states are strengthening protections against the death penalty.