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 August 2025.
Featured Cases
McDougle v. Scott
Virginia Supreme Court, in a split decision, nullified a constitutional amendment approved by voters that would have redrawn the state's congressional districts, finding the legislative process used for the amendment violated the state constitution
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
North Carolina NAACP v. Moore
North Carolina Supreme Court ruled principles of popular sovereignty and democratic self-rule impose limits on authority of legislators elected from unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered districts to initiate process of amending constitution
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. South Carolina (Planned Parenthood 2)
South Carolina Supreme Court held that a "fetal heartbeat" — as defined in a state law banning most abortions at the point such a heartbeat is detected — occurs when electrical impulses are first detectable as a "sound" with diagnostic medical technology and a medical professional observes those electrical impulses as a "steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart." Although declining to define that point in terms of a number of weeks, the court said it "occurs in most instances at approximately six weeks of pregnancy." The court also held that the law is not unconstitutionally vague.
Perez v. City of San Antonio
Texas Supreme Court held that a 2021 amendment, which bans the state and localities from prohibiting or limiting religious services, is absolute and categorical when it applies, but its applicability does not extend to the government’s preservation and management of publicly owned lands.
Sync Title Agency, LLC v. Arizona Corporation Commission
Arizona Court of Appeals held that juryless administrative hearings for civil securities charges do not violate the state constitution's jury trial right. The court relied on the same holding reached by a separate panel of the appeals court in EFG America v. Arizona Corporation Commission. The company plaintiff in EFG has petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court for review of this issue.
Republican National Committee v. Eternal Vigilance Action, Inc; Georgia v. Eternal Vigilance Action
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.
Atlantic Games, Inc. v. Georgia Lottery Corporation
Concurral to denial of certiorari by Justice Peteerson questioned whether the court should reconsider existing caselaw on the nondelegation doctrine in a different case because, in their view, it does not comport with original public meaning
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.
Commonwealth v. Govan
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that imposition of GPS monitoring as a condition of pretrial release for a defendant whose conduct directly implicated state interests in protecting alleged crime and domestic violence victims and potential witnesses was constitutional under Massachusetts's search and seizure clause. The court also held that an officer’s subsequent retrieval and review of an hour of defendant’s GPS location data in connection with investigating a new crime was not a search for state constitutional purposes because the defendant did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the accessed information.
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
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
