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 April 2025.
Featured Cases
Access Independent Health Services v. Wrigley
North Dakota Supreme Court upheld state's abortion ban despite three of five justices concluding a health-risk exception was unconstitutionally vague, because the state constitution requires four justices to declare legislation unconstitutional
Clarke v. Town of Newburgh
New York Court of Appeals held local government could not assert state or federal equal protection challenge to the vote dilution provision of the state's Voting Rights Act
League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature (LWV 1)
Utah Supreme Court sent partisan gerrymandering case back to lower court to consider whether the legislature violated voters' fundamental right to "reform or alter" their government when it overturned redistricting reforms passed by initiative. Lower court found legislators violated that right and struck the current congressional map, adopting an alternative proposed by the plaintiffs
State v. Hamer
Ruled that rights to jury trial and to waive jury trial do not make trial court's failure to follow statutorily prescribed procedure for waiver of a jury trial a structural error
Deminski v. State Board of Education
Ruled that a claim for violation of right to sound basic education exists where a government entity with control over schools is deliberately indifferent to ongoing harassment that prevents a student from learning
Cheryl Lloyd Humphrey Land Inv. Co. v. Resco Products, Inc.
Ruled that right of assembly and petition protects statements made before a local political subdivision during a public zoning process, regardless of whether the statements were malicious or false
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
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
