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.
Cincinnati Enquirer v. Bloom
Found the blanket sealing of a juvenile’s delinquency records when the juvenile is found not delinquent — the juvenile equivalent of not guilty — unconstitutional because there was no determination that the harm to the juvenile outweighed the public’s right to access court records
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"
McCarty v. Arkansas State Plant Board
Ruled statute permitting private entities to appoint members to a governmental board was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative appointment power
In re Childers-Gray
Ruled that adjudication of sex-change petitions is within the judicial power, and does not violate the constitution's separation of powers clause or present a nonjusticiable political question
State v. Patel
Ruled statute’s limitation on victim’s restitution award violates right to receive restitution in the full amount of economic loss or injury caused by a defendant's criminal conduct
Protect the Adirondacks! Inc. v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Ruled that state's plan to construct community connector trails designed for snowmobile use in the state's forest violated constitution's "forever wild" clause
Tillman v. Goodpasture
Ruled that statute abolishing wrongful birth tort did not violate rights to jury trial and legal remedy, as both rights apply only to common-law claims existing at the time of their adoption
Commonwealth v. Eid
Ruled that absence of a maximum term rendered sentencing provision in statute related to driving under a suspended license unconstitutionally vague
Commonwealth v. Hairston
Ruled that death penalty does not violate prohibition on cruel punishment, and right to effective assistance of counsel was not violated by failure to object to jury verdict that did not track relevant statutory language
State v. Vega-Larregui
Ruled that court's order authorizing virtual grand jury presentations, in response to the pandemic, did not violate separation of powers or the right to indictment by grand jury
Hamen v. Hamlin County
Ruled that damage caused by law enforcement during an arrest is not a taking under the state constitution
People v. Pagano
Concurrence wrote that court should depart from federal Fourth Amendment precedent to retain the requirement that an anonymous tip be reliable both in its assertion of illegality and in its tendency to identify a determinant person
