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States, Not the President, Run Elections in America
The administration’s attempts to undermine or interfere with elections run afoul of constitutional delegations of responsibility.
State v. Green
Tennessee Supreme Court held that, following the state's legalization of hemp, a positive alert from a drug-detecting dog incapable of distinguishing between the smell of legal hemp and illegal marijuana could still contribute to a probable cause finding to support a vehicle search.
Sikora v. Iowa
Iowa Supreme Court held that a former incarcerated person’s state constitutional and tort damages claims against the state and correction officers for releasing him from prison five months late were barred by the legislature’s choice not to waive sovereign immunity for false imprisonment claims. Three dissenting justices would have held that the right to sue an official for false imprisonment was part of the common law at the state constitution’s adoption and was secured by its liberty guarantees, precluding legislators from eliminating that right in the state tort claims act.
Missouri Appeals Court Upholds Order Blocking Abortion Restrictions
The ruling is the latest in a long-running saga over abortion access following voters’ 2024 approval of a state constitutional reproductive-rights amendment.
State v. Hidlebaugh
Iowa Supreme Court will consider whether a trial court's imposition of a harsher sentence based at least in part on the defendant's financial inability to purchase a home violates the state and federal equal protection clauses.
Grube v. Trader; State v. Rogan
Hawaii Supreme Court held that law requiring courts to "seal or otherwise remove all judiciary files" from any public electronic judicial database must be interpreted as providing two options to avoid state constitutional right to public access and separation of powers issues: removal of judicial records from the qualifying database, but keeping them publicly available for in-person review; or sealing of court records on a case-by-case basis, subject to procedural and substantive safeguards.
2025 Ballot Measures to Watch
Voters will decide whether to amend their state constitutions or statutes regarding redistricting, voting, firearm access, parental rights, taxes, and more.
Katherine Steefel
Katherine Steefel is an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Law at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.
The Extra Hurdle in State Courts to Prove a Statute Violates the U.S. Constitution
Many states require a litigant challenging a statute as violating the U.S. Constitution to prove the statute is unconstitutional “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
State v. City of San Antonio
Court of Appeals blocked a city from distributing payments under a $100,000 fund created to cover reproductive healthcare costs, which may include out-of-state travel for abortion care, while a full appeal is pending. Preliminarily held the fund violates the state constitution's gift clause because sending residents to undergo procedures out of state that Texas prohibits within the state does not count as a public purpose. Although the city had not yet disbursed any money and argued it still had the option to choose not to pay for out-of-state abortion travel, the panel found it sufficiently likely such payment would occur for the dispute to be ripe.
