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.
Reproductive Freedom for All v. Board of State Canvassers
Dissent wrote that word spacing in ballot petition’s proposed amendment to the constitution did not meet constitutional mandate of placing full text of amendment on the petition
State v. Obrero
Ruled 1982 constitutional amendment did not repeal by implication statute requiring grand jury for felony prosecutions, thus prosecution based on complaint and probable cause hearing was unlawful
Promote The Vote 2022 v. Board of State Canvassers
Ruled ballot petition’s proposed amendments did not abrogate existing provisions to trigger constitutional requirement to republish those provisions
State v. Anderson
Ruled defendant’s de facto life sentence of 61 years without parole for juvenile offender crimes does not violate Washington Constitution’s prohibition against cruel punishment
Lord v. Salt Lake County Clerk
Rejected request for declaratory relief that school district property tax increase was subject to constitution’s voter referendum rights provision
Anderson v. Board of State Canvassers
Concurrence wrote that constitutional amendments proposed by initiative rather than by the legislature may be constitutionally limited to a single purpose
Reed v. State
Ruled defense counsel’s participation in unrecorded bench conferences outside of defendant’s presence did not violate defendant’s right to be present at critical stages of the criminal proceeding
Hendrix v. Jaeger
Ruled Secretary of State’s invalidation of all petition signatures on the basis of notary fraud imputed from inference of fraud in other petitions was a misapplication of the law
Rodriguez v. Massachusetts Parole Board
Ruled the right to a meaningful opportunity for parole applies to all juveniles sentenced to life without parole and affords judicial review of only one parole denial
McDonald v. Jacobsen
Ruled that a legislative referendum requiring that supreme court justices be elected by district, rather than statewide, violates the state constitution
