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Democracy’s Fate Depends on Both State and Federal Courts
State and federal courts each played a role in stopping a candidate who lost his race for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court from throwing out 60,000 votes.
Levels of Scrutiny Applied by State Courts, Explained
The tests state courts use to decide whether a law impermissibly infringes on people’s rights play a big role in determining whether government restrictions on those rights are upheld.
Schools Over Stadiums v. Thompson
Held that a petition seeking to place a referendum on the ballot to strike sections of a bill authorizing the financing and construction of a Major League Baseball stadium in the county violated the constitution's full-text requirement because it did not include the entirety of the bill's language
Commonwealth v. Hastings
Ruled that an indigent defendant's motion for funds to retain an expert for his parole hearing was excepted from indigency statute's restrictions because it implicated his State constitutional right to reasonable disability accommodations in parole proceedings
Snell v. Walz
Held that the Emergency Management Act, which authorized the Governor to declare a peacetime emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic, did not provide for an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority
Alaska Trappers Association v. City of Valdez
Held that a local ordinance regulating animal trappings within city limits was enacted pursuant to the city’s authority to regulate land use and public safety and not substantially irreconcilable with state law
Brown v. Kotek
Held that the terms of the conditional commutation limited the Governor's authority to revoke the commutation to the period before the commutee's sentence had expired
Cosme v. Clark
Ruled that under Indiana's constitutional right to a jury trial, courts cannot weigh conflicting evidence or assess witness credibility at the directed-verdict stage
Usachenok v. Department of the Treasury
Held that the confidentiality directive in regulation applicable to harassment and discrimination investigations in state workplaces was constitutionally overbroad under New Jersey's affirmative right to speak freely, which is broader than federal First Amendment Protections
Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Hunt
Unanimously denied challenge to the law restoring voting rights to non-incarcerated individuals convicted of felonies, on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing