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 2024.
Featured Cases
Genser v. Butler County Board of Elections
Held citizens whose mail-in ballots were disqualified for a failure to return them in the required secrecy envelope have a right to cast a provisional ballot and have it count.
Gonzalez v. Miller
Unanimously affirmed the denial of a district attorney’s effort to dismiss a state Open Records Act request relating to her office’s “failure . . . to effectively prosecute criminal cases, and an open disregard for the laws of the State of Georgia"
Republican National Committee v. Eternal Vigilance Action, Inc
The Georgia Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling that several controversial new election rules are “illegal, unconstitutional, and void.” The rules would have made election certification discretionary, required hand-counting the number of ballots, made drop boxes harder to use, and expanded the role of poll watchers. The appeal will proceed on a normal schedule, which means the state supreme court will fully consider the challenge against the rules over the next few months.
State v. Amstutz
Ruled that arrest violated search and seizure clause because information available to other officers that would have created probable cause could not be imputed to arresting officer
State v. Carter
Ruled that stop based on officer's mistaken interpretation of license plate concealment statute violated state constitution's search and seizure clause even though it would not have violated federal Fourth Amendment
People v. Washington
Ruled that trial court lacked jurisdiction when it resentenced defendant pursuant to intermediate appellate court's order while defendant's appeal was pending in state supreme court
Sheffield v. Detroit City Clerk
Held that a governor stopping city charter revisions from being submitted to voters would conflict with constitutional clauses vesting cities with control over their charters
Myers v. Reno Cab Co.
Ruled that employee status for constitutional minimum wage amendment is determined by totality of circumstances, and provision entitling aggrieved employees to all available remedies only applies to claims under the amendment.
Taxpayers for Michigan Constitutional Government v. State
Ruled that state payments to school districts are included in total state spending for purposes of constitutional spending requirements, but charter schools are not school districts for purposes of the amendment
Velazquez v. University Physician Associates
Dissent wrote that statute capping non-economic damages for statutory medical malpractice cause of action violates constitutional right to trial by jury
Doyle v. Tidball
Ruled that because voter-initiated amendment expanding Medicaid does not expressly appropriate money, such amendment does not violate constitutional prohibition against appropriation by initiative
Smith v. Isakson
Ruled that courts must look to offense's historical nature and the severity of the penalty to determine whether right to jury trial was preserved for the crime
Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth
Ruled that statutes diverting to the state's general fund revenue generated from oil and gas leases on state lands violate clause placing the state's natural resources in public trust
