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 2024.
Featured Cases
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc, et al. v. Kim Reynolds, et al.
The Iowa Supreme Court held that abortion is not a fundamental right under the state constitution and is only subject to rational basis review. The court reversed a lower court injunction halting the state's "fetal heartbeat" law.
Texas v. Loe
The Texas Supreme Court refused to block a ban on certain medical treatments for transgender minors, saying the state legislature had a rational basis for passing the law and that it does not improperly infringe on the rights of parents to make medical decisions for the children or on physicians’ abilities to treat patients. The court also said the law does not constitute sex discrimination and declined to treat transgender people as a protected class.
Drummond v. Statewide Virtual Charter Schoolboard
Ruled that the state education board’s approval of a Catholic school's application to be a public charter school violated the Oklahoma Constitution, the federal Establishment Clause, and the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act
Ferry v. City of Montpelier
Ruled that a statute allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections did not violate the state constitution's voter eligibility provisions
State v. Craigen
Ruled that evidence resulting from a violation of defendant’s constitutional right to counsel during police interrogation should have been suppressed, including evidence of yet uncharged crimes
State v. Bagby
Ruled that the prosecutor's race-based misconduct in repeatedly using the word “nationality” to distinguish defendant from other witnesses violated defendant’s right to an impartial jury
A.J.B. v. Montana Eighteenth Judicial District Court
Ruled statute excepting parents and children subject to the Indian Welfare Child Act from eligibility for emergency protective services hearings violated equal protection
State v. Canosa
Ruled that state’s unreasonable delay in sentencing deprived defendant of fundamentally fair sentencing proceedings and allocution rights violating due process clause
State v. Staudenmayer
Ruled that admission into evidence of court clerk’s minute entries relaying defendant’s absence from an omnibus hearing did not violate confrontation clause
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest v. State
Held that the state constitution does not implicitly provide a fundamental right to an abortion because such a right is not “deeply rooted” in the state’s traditions and history
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. State
Held that abortion ban violated the constitution’s right to privacy in part because six weeks is not sufficient time for women to determine they are pregnant
Mallard v. Warden, New Hampshire State Prison
Ruled that defense counsel’s deficient performance by appealing to racial bias during a jury trial violated defendant’s rights to effective assistance of counsel and a fair trial
McClain v. State
Ruled no state constitutional right to a jury trial in civil suit for wrongful imprisonment because claim did not exist in common law