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 May 2025.
Featured Cases
League of Women Voters of South Carolina v. Alexander
South Carolina Supreme Court held that partisan gerrymandering claims are nonjusticiable political questions, which state courts cannot review, under the state constitution.
League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature (LWV 1)
Utah Supreme Court sent partisan gerrymandering case back to lower court to consider whether the legislature violated voters' fundamental right to "reform or alter" their government when it overturned redistricting reforms passed by initiative. Lower court found legislators violated that right and struck the current congressional map.
Black Voters Matter v. Byrd
Florida Supreme Court upheld the state's 2022 congressional map against voting rights groups' challenge that it diminishes Black voters' ability to elect candidates of their choice in violation of a 2010 amendment, finding the plaintiffs had not proven the possibility of drawing a remedial map that complies with the federal equal protection clause.
Board of Education v. Cabell County Public Library
Ruled that the restoration of equalization payments from the county board of education, pursuant to Special Acts, violated equal protection insofar as the payments required that funding district and library to be part of the county board of education's excess levy proposal
Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. State
Held that determination that corporate subentities of Roman Catholic diocese's social ministry arm were not operated primarily for religious purposes did not constitute as-applied violation of Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses
Thompson v. Fhuere
Held that defendant's challenge to constitutionality of death sentence, together with challenge to postconviction court's modification of sentence rather than remand for resentencing, were not cognizable on postconviction review after Governor commuted death sentence
State v. McKelvey
Held that a state trooper's use of telephoto lens to enhance photographs of defendant's greenhouse from aerial surveillance was a "search" under the state's search and seizure clause
Smith v. Ohio State University
Held that discretionary immunity serves as a jurisdictional bar, not an affirmative defense, to suits against the state in the Court of Claims
Davis v. Bissen
Held that unabandoned possessions of houseless persons constitute property and were protected by Hawaii's due process clause
State Chamber of Oklahoma v. Cobbs
Dissent would have struck down Initiative Petition 446 as a facially unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to federal officials in direct contravention of the Court's precedent
Aztec Municipal Schools v. Cardenas
Affirmed a lower court decision that a workers’ compensation limit on the duration of disability benefits for a mental illness violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution.
Vazquez v. State
Held that the statute generally defining state residency governs Alaska Constitution's three-year state residency requirement for Alaska legislators
State v. Gnewuch
Held that Nebraska's deferred judgment statute did not violate the state constitution's separation of powers clause
