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Christine Monta
Christine Monta is Supreme Court & Appellate Counsel at the MacArthur Justice Center.
Eugene Volokh
Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at UCLA School of Law and Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
2025’s Most Significant State Constitutional Cases
Leading legal thinkers weighed in on the state constitutional rulings our readers should know about from this past year.
A Conversation with North Carolina Justice Allison Riggs
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs has served on the North Carolina Supreme Court since 2023. She was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper (D), who had previously named her to the state’s Court of Appeals in 2022. In her interview, Riggs discusses the drawbacks of partisan judicial elections, the decisions that have meant the most to her, and why she smiles at everyone who argues in her court.
Raftery v. State Board of Retirement
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that forfeiture of pension benefits required by state law when a state employee is convicted of violating laws applicable to his office did not violate the excessive fines or “cruel or unusual” punishment clause.
Hicks v. State
Wyoming Supreme Court held that mandatory life without parole sentences for young adults who are over 18 do not violate the state constitution’s criminal punishment or equal protection clauses.
Ex Parte David Leonard Wood
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals remanded subsequent habeas petition for development of actual innocence claim. Concurrence would hold that state constitution's distinctive protections against erroneous deprivations of life support an independent standard for actual innocence habeas claims involving capital sentences.
Why We Should Care About Diversity on the Bench
New data shows women and people of color are underrepresented on state high courts.
Stephen Spaulding
Stephen Spaulding is the managing director of the Kohlberg Center at the Brennan Center.
