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 June 2025.
Featured Cases
League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature (LWV 1)
Utah Supreme Court dismissed legislators' appeal from trial court ruling that struck the state's congressional map. Lower court said law the map was enacted under violated a fundamental right of voters to alter or reform their government — recognized by the Utah high court earlier in the case — by repealing a redistricting-reform initiative, and subsequently adopted plaintiffs' proposed alternative map
Commonwealth v. Council for Better Education; LaFontaine v. Council for Better Education
Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that a law providing for charter schools funds education outside the “system of common schools,” in violation of clauses requiring the legislature to establish such a system and voters to approve such funding
McDougle v. Nardo
Virginia Supreme Court permitted legislature's proposed amendment to redraw the state’s congressional map to proceed to a vote, while it considers appeal of trial court decision finding the legislative process unconstitutional
State v. McFarland
Connecticut Supreme Court held that the state constitution’s due process provisions require a more protective balancing test for pre-arrest delay than the approach adopted by the majority of federal circuits under the federal due process clause.
In re Tom Malinowski
Appellants claimed that state's ban on fusion voting violates rights to vote, to free speech and political association, to equal protection, and to assemble
State v. McLain
Maine Supreme Court held that the state constitution's privilege against self-incrimination provides greater protection than the federal Fifth Amendment with respect to waiving that privilege.
Lyon v. Riverside Methodist Hospital
Ohio Court of Appeals held that a law capping noneconomic damages for medical malpractice claims does not facially violate state constitutional due process or equal protection, but did violate those guarantees as applied to the plaintiff whose award was signficantly reduced for extreme injuries.
Mohebali v. Hayes
North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a law capping jury awards of noneconomic damages for medical malpractice did not violate the state constitutional jury trial right of a plaintiff who sued her physician for negligence for allowing her pregnancy to extend to 44-weeks, resulting in fetal death.
People v. Bankston
California Supreme Court will consider whether the state constitution limits relief available under the state's racial justice act, particularly with respect to death penalty eligibility, if a defendant establishes racial bias was exhibited at trial
Arnold v. Kotek
Oregon Supreme Court will consider whether a voter-approved ballot measure requiring a permit process to be eligible to purchase a gun and completion of a background check before any transfer, as well as banning large-capacity magazines, violates the state constitutional right to bear arms.
Hicks v. State
Wyoming Supreme Court held that mandatory life without parole sentences for young adults who are over 18 do not violate the state constitution’s criminal punishment or equal protection clauses.
Raftery v. State Board of Retirement
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that forfeiture of pension benefits required by state law when a state employee is convicted of violating laws applicable to his office did not violate the excessive fines or “cruel or unusual” punishment clause.
Ex Parte David Leonard Wood
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals remanded subsequent habeas petition for development of actual innocence claim. Concurrence would hold that state constitution's distinctive protections against erroneous deprivations of life support an independent standard for actual innocence habeas claims involving capital sentences.
