State Case Database
Search State Court Report's database of significant state supreme court decisions and pending cases. Download decisions and briefs for cases that develop state constitutional law. This is a selected database and does not include every state supreme court case. See methodology and "How to Use the State Case Database" for more information.
This database is updated monthly, although individual cases may be updated more frequently. Last updated comprehensively with cases decided through February 2025.
Featured Cases
LeMieux v. Evers
The Wisconsin Supreme Court held, in a divided decision, that the governor did not exceed his partial veto authority under the state constitution when he altered digits, words, and punctuation in a budget bill to extend a school funding increase from 2 to 402 years.
Griffin v. State Board of Elections
A candidate for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, who lost by over 700 votes, claims that the state board of elections followed an incorrect process for registering voters and seeks in invalidate more than 60,000 votes.
People v. Taylor; People v. Czarnecki
Michigan Supreme Court held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences violate the state constitution’s protection against “cruel or unusual” punishment for anyone under age 21 at the time of the offense. The decision extends the court’s 2022 ruling in People v. Parks that such sentences are unconstitutional for those 18 or under.
Albence v. Mennella
The Delaware Supreme Court dismissed for lack of standing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2019 law permitting early in-person voting “at least 10 days before an election," and a 2010 statute allowing some voters who are already eligible to vote absentee to apply for permanent absentee status.
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
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
Howell v. Cooper
The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear two cases together, both brought by bar owners who sued the state claiming that shutdown orders related to the Covid-19 pandemic violated their state constitutional right to earn a living, their due process rights under the “law of the land” clause, and their equal protection rights
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
O’Halloran v. Sec. of State
The Michigan Supreme Court will decide the legality of certain instructions for election challengers and poll watchers issued by the secretary of state in 2022 in response to reports of widespread disruption by challengers in 2020.
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
