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State v. Rudy Nino Parras
Oregon Supreme Court granted review to consider whether state "felon in possession" law, as applied to defendants with prior drug felonies, violates state or federal right to bear arms, but after oral argument dismissed review as improvidently allowed.
Connor v. Oklahoma
Reversed a district court’s denial of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s motion to dismiss a discrimination claim brought by the former general counsel of the commission. The commission claimed she failed to comply with the notice provisions of the Governmental Tort Claims Act, but the lower court had found conflicts between that act and state anti-discrimination statutes meant the notice requirements did not apply. The Oklahoma high court, reaffirming that the liability limitations in the act apply to both constitutional torts and statutes, said no irreconcilable conflicts exist.
Firearms Owners Against Crime v. Commissioner of Pennsylvania State Police
Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that statute providing for "instantaneous" background checks of prospective gun purchasers requires provision of eligibility determinations as quickly as possible with the resources the agency has available, but found to be waived -- and declined to reach -- state constitutional claims that failing to provide immediate results violates purchasers' and sellers' inherent rights and right to bear arms.
William W. Berry III
William W. Berry III is Associate Dean for Research and Montague Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi.
How Courts and Litigators Can Help Redefine “Cruel” and “Unusual” Punishments
A new law review article offers guidance for state appellate judges interpreting their Eighth Amendment cognates for the first time.
Keisha Stokes-Hough
Keisha Stokes-Hough is a deputy director of legal management at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Alabama Constitution: Despite a Century of Updates, Traces of its Racist Past Linger
The constitution’s extensive amendments and inclusion of local government rules make Alabama’s constitution the country’s longest
Natural Rights in State Courts
State constitutional provisions broadly protecting “inherent rights” do real work.
State v. Gonzalez
Held that defendant's mental health could not be considered in determining whether sentence was unconstitutionally disproportionate
White v. City of Mableton
Held that legislation that created and incorporated a city and created community improvement districts within it did not violate the Illinois Constitution's single subject rule
