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.
State ex rel. AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. v. Moats
Ruled that conducting a bench trial on plaintiffs' equitable claims before trying to a jury plaintiffs' legal claims violates defendants' constitutional right to trial by jury
Brown v. Gianforte
Ruled that statute abolishing judicial nomination commission and screening process does not violate constitutional provision that governor will fill vacancies with nominees selected in a manner provided by law
State v. Keys
Ruled that constitutional provision prescribing charging procedures for felonies does not establish that a defendant's defective waiver of a probable cause hearing deprives a court of subject matter jurisdiction
Hudson v. State (In re K. H.)
Ruled that in parental rights termination proceeding, admitting evidence of pending child abuse charges against parents was so inherently prejudicial that it violated right to a fair trial
State v. Smith
Upheld statute imposing mandatory 100-year sentence and lifetime GPS monitoring for adult convicted of child sexual abuse
State v. Wilson
Ruled that state's pandemic public health orders imposing occupancy limitations on some categories of businesses, do not support a claim for just compensation under takings clause
Hrbek v. State
Ruled that the omnibus crime bill did not violate separation of powers principles, and that in post-conviction relief there is no constitutional right to hybrid representation
People v. Bass
Concurrences would have addressed whether under Illinois' "limited lockstep" approach the state constitution provides greater protections than the Fourth Amendment
State v. VanBeek
Ruled that an officer taking an individual's driver's license back to the officer's squad car may constitute a seizure for purposes of constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures
State v. Sewell
Ruled that arrestee has no right to consult counsel when deciding whether to consent to chemical testing because the right does not attach before a prosecution is commenced
