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 March 2025.
Featured Cases
Kaul v. Urmanski
Wisconsin Supreme Court held that an 1849 law, which a local prosecutor had claimed was a near-total abortion ban, is impliedly repealed as to abortion by subsequent legislation and does not ban the procedure in the state.
Contoocook Valley School District v. New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the state's existing education funding law is constitutionally inadequate and $7,356.01 per pupil as a minimum constitutional guidepost for the legislature, but reversed the trial court's injunction directing the state immediately to pay that amount because the court failed to give adequate weight to separation of powers concerns.
Republican National Committee v. Eternal Vigilance Action, Inc; Georgia v. Eternal Vigilance Action
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled invalid under state nondelegation principles four of seven rules passed by the Georgia State Election board, while upholding one rule. The court did not decide the validity of two other rules, holding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the provisions.
State ex rel. Elizabeth Constance v. Evnen
Held that voter ballot initiative, which proposed to amend the state constitution to limit abortion in the second and third trimesters, did not violate the single subject rule
State v. Thompson
Ruled that state constitutional and statutory provisions required a concurrence of only ten jurors for acquittal for offenses committed before January 1, 2019
Richard v. Governor
Ruled that the state constitutional provision governing choice of governor, council, and senators did not mandate that votes must be counted by hand
Genser v. Butler County Board of Elections
Held citizens whose mail-in ballots were disqualified for a failure to return them in the required secrecy envelope have a right to cast a provisional ballot and have it count.
Ex parte Charette
Held that the exhaustion of administrative remedies in the Texas Ethics Commission is a prerequisite to bringing criminal charges against a political candidate for campaign-law violations
People v. Lewis
Held that the county court is not required to grant appeal bond to a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor and found to pose a danger to the community, but is, upon request, required to stay the execution of defendant's sentence pending appeal to the district court
Commonwealth v. Dilworth
Held that the court will apply a less rigorous standard when evaluating equal protection claims in the context of alleged discriminatory policing during the investigatory phase of a case
Hild, Administration of the Estate of Boldman v. Samaritan Health Partners
Held that when jurors are presented with interrogatories that require them to separately decide the elements of a negligence claim, the same-juror rule applies, requiring the same three-fourths of jurors to agree on all questions comprising the verdict slip
State v. Miller
Held that the Iowa Constitution’s cruel and unusual punishment clause does not prohibit sentencing juvenile offenders to a minimum prison term before they are eligible for parole and rejected the defendant’s argument that the same clause bars such a sentence unless there is expert testimony concerning defendants’ “youthful characteristics"
State ex rel. Spung v. Evnen
Ordered election officials to implement immediately a 2024 law that reinstated voting rights to those convicted of a felony upon completion of their sentence, meaning affected people can now register to vote for November’s election. The secretary of state, based on an advisory opinion from the state attorney general calling the law unconstitutional, had directed election officials to stop registering people with a felony conviction who had not received a pardon.
