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
Onondaga v. New York
New York Court of Appeals upheld law that would change many county and town elections to even years to align with state and federal contests, finding it does not violate state constitutional home rule or voting rights
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.
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. Bowman
Ruled that a cell phone owner’s voluntary consent to search text messages justifies intruding on an otherwise private affair
Wash. State Legislature v. Inslee
Ruled that the governor exceeded his veto power by striking a single sentence in an appropriate bill
Calcasieu Parish School Board Sales v. Nelson Industrial Steam Co.
Ruled legislation excluding certain transactions from sales tax was a new tax and violated Tax Limitation clause for failure to garner a supermajority vote in legislature
Commonwealth v. Dejesus
Abolished separate standing requirement and ruled a defendant need only show a reasonable expectation of privacy in a place searched to contest search and seizure
Thom v. Barnett (In re Election Contest Dakota Constitution to Legalize)
In challenge to initiated constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana, ruled proposed amendment violated constitution’s single subject and separate vote requirements
In re Goldston
Ruled family court judge’s presence at party’s home to look for marital property was an improper search under prohibition against judicial officers exercising the executive search power
State ex rel. Suwalski v. Peeler
Ruled that application for relief from federal firearms disability after conviction for domestic violence implicated crime victim’s rights under the constitution
State v. Peterson
Dissent wrote that statute criminalizing sale of heroin violated equal protection clause because the same conduct is criminalized under another controlled substance statute which carries a different penalty
State v. Arnett
Ruled that the criminal restitution scheme violates the right to a jury trial under the state constitution
State v. Brown
Ruled statute authorizing judge, not jury, to make criminal history findings for sentencing did not violate right to a jury trial; statute allowing judge to set restitution implicated the right but was severable
