-
May 21, 2024 | 
statecourtreport.org | Geeta Tewari |Alicia Bannon |Anthony Sanders |Walter Olson
The Delaware Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging restrictions on religious gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic. The case involves questions about how to moderate conflicting interests in a diverse and polarized society, as well as jurisdictional and immunity doctrines related to when and how courts are permitted to adjudicate such claims.
-
May 21, 2024 | 
discoursemagazine.com | Anthony Sanders
A surefire prediction in American legal culture is that every May and June—as the Supreme Court’s term draws to a close and it issues the lion’s share of its most controversial opinions—an army of news stories will take to the battlefield wielding the word “legitimacy.” Often quoting politicians who can’t get enough of it, these stories tell of “a crisis of legitimacy,” saying that the court “has destroyed its legitimacy and there is no reason to respect it” and that trust in the court is so...
-
May 15, 2024 | 
statecourtreport.org | Alicia Bannon |Anthony Sanders |Walter Olson |Nancy Watzman
As I’m sure State Court Report readers are well aware, universities across the country have been roiled by campus protests over the war in Gaza. State constitutions are part of the legal framework that governs how these protesters can behave and how universities and the police can respond.
-
Apr 2, 2024 | 
statecourtreport.org | Anthony Sanders |Walter Olson |Nancy Watzman |Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot
Can singing or writing violent song lyrics be used as evidence that a person has committed a violent crime? Over and over again, in state courts across the country, prosecutors are trying to do just that. The question for courts, including in a recent case in Iowa, is whether this tactic risks convicting people not because of what they did or didn’t do, but because of how jurors react to their taste in music. But it’s not all musical genres that have the attention of prosecutors.
-
Dec 18, 2023 | 
statecourtreport.org | Anthony Sanders |Walter Olson |Nancy Watzman |Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot
State courts have the freedom to interpret their constitutions differently from the U.S. Constitution. A departure from the federal Constitution seems particularly called for when the text of a state constitution diverges significantly from its federal counterpart. Last week, the Virginia Supreme Court followed this call in Vlaming v. West Point School Board, announcing its state constitution’s unique religious liberties language should be interpreted differently than the federal First Amendment.
-
Dec 4, 2023 | 
statecourtreport.org | Walter Olson |Anthony Sanders |Nancy Watzman |Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot
In a ruling that surprised and pleased many advocates for free speech and police accountability, the Florida Supreme Court ruled on November 30 that the state’s version of Marsy’s Law, a victim’s rights provision of the state constitution, does not shield from public disclosure the identities of police officers involved in fatal shootings. Marsy’s Law, named after a woman murdered in 1983, refers to a set of constitutional protections for crime victims.
-
Dec 1, 2023 | 
discoursemagazine.com | Anthony Sanders
In the U.S., probably the most widely understood aspect of property rights is that if the government takes your land, it has to pay you for it. Although other facets of property rights are poorly maintained and defended, the core requirement that the government pay an owner “just compensation” in return for a “taking”—as guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution—is unquestioned. Even so, what if the government took your land but refused to pay you?
-
Nov 27, 2023 | 
statecourtreport.org | Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot |Gabriella Sanchez |Mary Ziegler |Anthony Sanders
The plaintiffs include 20 women who were denied abortion care and two doctors who say Texas’s abortion bans prevent them from meeting their ethical obligations. The Texas Supreme Court hears oral argument Tuesday in a case seeking to clarify what counts as a “medical emergency” under the state’s abortion bans. The plaintiffs also raise claims under state constitutional guarantees to equal rights, freedom from discrimination, and due process.
-
Sep 12, 2023 | 
statecourtreport.org | Anthony Sanders |Alice Clapman |Alicia Bannon |Chris Leaverton
In June, the Indiana Supreme Court provided a fascinating exploration of the American theory of natural rights in ruling on a challenge to the state’s abortion ban. The court ultimately upheld the ban, but its analysis connected the state’s constitution to the 17th-century English philosopher John Locke in a way that could open the door to protecting a broad array of “natural rights” in Indiana and other states with similar constitutional guarantees.
-
Jul 18, 2023 | 
statecourtreport.org | Gabriella Sanchez |Anthony Sanders |Chris Leaverton |Douglas Keith
UPDATE: On July 18, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled the SAFE-T Act’s pretrial release provisions ending the use of cash bail are constitutional and ordered their implementation on September 18, 2023. It held that the SAFE-T Act does not violate the Illinois Constitution’s Bail Clause or Crime Victims’ Rights Clause because neither of these provisions mandate the use of cash bail, as opposed to other conditions of release.
