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
League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature (LWV 1)
Utah Supreme Court dismissed legislators' appeal from trial court ruling that struck the state's congressional map. Lower court said law the map was enacted under violated a fundamental right of voters to alter or reform their government — recognized by the Utah high court earlier in the case — by repealing a redistricting-reform initiative, and subsequently adopted plaintiffs' proposed alternative map
Commonwealth v. Council for Better Education; LaFontaine v. Council for Better Education
Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that a law providing for charter schools funds education outside the “system of common schools,” in violation of clauses requiring the legislature to establish such a system and voters to approve such funding
McDougle v. Nardo
Virginia Supreme Court permitted legislature's proposed amendment to redraw the state’s congressional map to proceed to a vote, while it considers appeal of trial court decision finding the legislative process unconstitutional
Independent School District No. 12 v. State of Oklahoma
Ruled in a unanimous decision, against the state board and instructed it to dismiss the enforcement proceedings it brought against a district school library over certain books that allegedly violated new state board rules against sexualized content.
People v. Watkins
Held that defense counsel's decision to forgo a request for a cross-racial identification charge did not constitute an “egregious” single error that rose to level of constitutionally ineffective assistance
Fearrington v. City of Greenville
Ruled that an Act governing red light cameras in a city did not violate the Fines and Forfeitures Clause of the North Carolina Constitution
State v. Brown
Held that the defendant had a legitimate, reasonable expectation of privacy when he spoke with his mother in police station interview room under both the Fourth Amendment and Rhode Island's right against self-incrimination
Texas Department of Transportation v. Self
Held that the government must pay compensation to the landowners when it intentionally destroys private property for public use, even when it acted with the mistaken belief that it has a legal right to do so
Albence v. Mennella
The Delaware Supreme Court dismissed for lack of standing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2019 law permitting early in-person voting “at least 10 days before an election" and a 2010 statute allowing some voters who are already eligible to vote absentee to apply for permanent absentee status.
Thurston v. The League of Women Voters of Arkansas
Held that Acts placing restrictions on absentee ballots and requiring valid photographic identification to cast a ballot did not clearly violate state constitutional provisions guaranteeing equal protection and free and equal elections
Schools Over Stadiums v. Thompson
Held that a petition seeking to place a referendum on the ballot to strike sections of a bill authorizing the financing and construction of a Major League Baseball stadium in the county violated the constitution's full-text requirement because it did not include the entirety of the bill's language
Commonwealth v. Hastings
Ruled that an indigent defendant's motion for funds to retain an expert for his parole hearing was excepted from indigency statute's restrictions because it implicated his State constitutional right to reasonable disability accommodations in parole proceedings
Snell v. Walz
Held that the Emergency Management Act, which authorized the Governor to declare a peacetime emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic, did not provide for an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority
