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Stein v. Berger
Refused to halt an appeals court decision allowing a law to go into effect that shifted power to appoint members to the state elections board from the governor to the state auditor. The governor had requested a stay of the appeals court decision. A trial court found that the law was unconstitutional, and litigation on those issues is ongoing.
Doe v. Uthmeier
A 17-year-old petitioned for a judicial waiver so that she may consent to an abortion without parental notification and consent. A Florida intermediate appellate court held that the judicial waiver law, which allows parental consent to be bypassed upon certain trial court findings, violates parents' due process rights. Anticipating Florida Supreme Court review, the intermediate court certified the question of the law's constitutionality to the state high court.
Kaul v. Urmanski
Wisconsin Supreme Court held that an 1849 law, which a local prosecutor had claimed was a near-total abortion ban, is impliedly repealed as to abortion by subsequent legislation and does not ban the procedure in the state.
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
Care and Prevention of Eve
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that department of children and families violated the state constitution's free exercise of religion protection when it vaccinated a child temporarily in its custody over the religious objections of her parents. Parents who have temporarily lost custody of their children retain a residual right to direct their religious upbringing, and the state must demonstrate that allowing the child to remain unvaccinated would substantially hinder the department’s compelling interest in the vaccination.
Natural Rights in State Courts
State constitutional provisions broadly protecting “inherent rights” do real work.
Contoocook Valley School District v. New Hampshire
New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the state's existing education funding law is constitutionally inadequate and $7,356.01 per pupil as a minimum constitutional guidepost for the legislature, but said the lower court insufficiently accounted for separation of powers concerns when it ordered the state to pay that increased amount immediately.
