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
Access Independent Health Services v. Wrigley
North Dakota Supreme Court upheld state's abortion ban despite three of five justices concluding a health-risk exception was unconstitutionally vague, because the state constitution requires four justices to declare legislation unconstitutional
Clarke v. Town of Newburgh
New York Court of Appeals held local government could not assert state or federal equal protection challenge to the vote dilution provision of the state's Voting Rights Act
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, adopting an alternative proposed by the plaintiffs
Center for Coalfield Justice v. Washington County Board of Elections
Pennsylvania Supreme Court held a county election board policy that provided no notice to voters whose mail-in ballots were disqualified for errors and gave the misimpression they could not vote by provisional ballot violated voters' procedural due process rights
Robust Missouri Dispensary 3 v. St. Louis County
Missouri Supreme Court held that the definition of "local government" in a 2022 amendment legalizing recreational marijuana use plainly prevents both counties and cities from imposing sales tax on the same marijuana products.
Englewood Hospital & Medical Center v. State
New Jersey Supreme Court rejected claims by a group of hospitals that the state’s “charity care program” — which prevents them from turning away people unable to pay and from billing qualified patients — constitutes an illegal "per se" or regulatory taking under the state and federal constitutions.
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.
State v. Green
Tennessee Supreme Court held that, following the state's legalization of hemp, a positive alert from a drug-detecting dog incapable of distinguishing between the smell of legal hemp and illegal marijuana could still contribute to a probable cause finding to support a vehicle search.
State v. Haynes
Connecticut Supreme Court declined to depart from precedent, based on federal case law, permitting prosecutors to impeach a defendant's trial testimony using statements obtained in violation of the defendant's Miranda rights.
Southern Methodist University v. South Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church
Concurrence to Texas Supreme Court decision finding a church conference has statutory authority to sue Southern Methodist University for breach of contract, in which four justices highlighted the need to consider the extent to which the state constitution protects the autonomy of religious organizations, independent of the First Amendment.
People v. Armstrong
Michigan Supreme Court held that, following the state's legalization of some marijuana use and possession, the smell of marijuana, standing alone, does not constitute probable cause to justify the warrantless search of a car.
State v. Hidlebaugh
Iowa Supreme Court will consider whether a trial court's imposition of a harsher sentence based at least in part on the defendant's financial inability to purchase a home violates the state and federal equal protection clauses.
Sikora v. Iowa
Iowa Supreme Court held that a former incarcerated person’s state constitutional and tort damages claims against the state and correction officers for releasing him from prison five months late were barred by the legislature’s choice not to waive sovereign immunity for false imprisonment claims. Three dissenting justices would have held that the right to sue an official for false imprisonment was part of the common law at the state constitution’s adoption and was secured by its liberty guarantees, precluding legislators from eliminating that right in the state tort claims act.
