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
Hoke County Board of Education v. State of North Carolina
The North Carolina Supreme Court overturned its own precedent and put an end to more than 30 years of litigation involving the funding of public education in the state.
Commonwealth v. Lee
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that mandating a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, for “felony murder” — a legal doctrine that allows someone to be prosecuted for murder for any death that occurs during the commission of a separate felony, even if the defendant never meant to kill anyone — violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s ban on “cruel” punishments
Luther v. Hoskins
The Missouri Supreme Court rejected voters' challenge to Missouri's new congressional district map, which the plaintiffs said ran afoul of state constitutional prohibitions on mid-decade redistricting. The court said the state constitution contained no express prohibition on mid-decade redistricting and that the map was a "valid exercise" of the "plenary legislative power to establish congressional districts."
Foresman v. Foresman
Hawaii Supreme Court upheld law that reopened civil claims based on sexual acts with a minor "that constituted or would have constituted a criminal offense,” finding it established a statute of limitations, not an independent cause of action, and only imposed liability for acts that were crimes when the conduct occurred
Amdor v. Grisham
Denied portion of original petition alleging that governor's executive orders declaring or addressing gun violence and drug abuse as public health emergencies pursuant to the state's Public Health Emergency Response Act violate either the scope of that law or separation of powers. But granted petition to extent it challenged part of the orders suspending a juvenile detention program for exceeding the limits of the state's police power.
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.
Elliott v. City of College Station
Texas Supreme Court declined, based on constitutional avoidance and separation of powers principles, to resolve claim by residents of an extraterritorial jurisdiction that a clause preserving a “republican form of government” protects them from being subject to city regulations when they cannot vote in city elections. While the appeal was pending, the legislature changed the law to provide a process for opting out of the jurisdiction, of which the plaintiffs did not avail themselves.
People v. Hagestedt
Concurrence would have declined to lockstep with the United States constitution and engaged in an independent analysis of the Illinois constitutional provision
Donaldson v. City of El Reno
Held that the retroactive appliation of amendment to the Sex Offenders Registration Act, which placed certain residency requirements on sex offenders, was not punitive and therefore did not violate the ex post facto clause of the Oklahoma Constitution
Heos v. City of East Lansing
Held that new franchise fee charged to in-city consumers by utility provider and remitted to the city was an unlawful tax that violated the Headlee Amendment of the Michigan Constitution, which requires voter approval for new taxes
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 to invalidate more than 60,000 votes.
Adkins v. State
Idaho trial court denied motion to dismiss claim that the state's abortion bans — as applied to pregnant people that have "an emergent medical condition that poses a risk of death or risk to their health (including their fertility)" — violate the state constitution's "inalienable rights" clause, finding that the Idaho Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Planned Parenthood Great Northwest v. State that the bans were not facially invalid in all applications did not preclude this as-applied challenge.
State v. Hall
Kansas intermediate appellate court held that the state constitutional right to "keep and bear arms" should be applied independently of, and not in lockstep with, the federal Second Amendment. Applying strict scrutiny, the court found a state ban on gun possession by people convicted of certain felonies for a term of years after their release from prison to be narrowly tailored to a compelling interest in ensuring public safety.
