Bryna Godar is a staff attorney for the State Democracy Research Initiative at University of Wisconsin Law School, which filed an amici curiae brief in Evers v. Marklein on behalf of a group of legal ...

Held that the legislature's adoption and amendment of proposed ballot initiatives in the same legislative session violated the people’s right to propose and enact laws through the initiative process.

Nine states have amended their constitutions to eliminate or narrow the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. The exception exists in the federal 13th Amendment. While ...

State high courts continue to settle disputes over voting and election processes, including obstacles to by-mail voting — and to define the right to vote under their own constitutions. While some ...

The state constitutions of the founding era, written between 1776 and 1787, often get overlooked or ignored. With the exception of Massachusetts, most states replaced these constitutions long ago, ...

Michigan Supreme Court held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for “felony murder" are cruel or unusual punishment if the jury was not instructed on malice and the state cannot demonstrate ...

This essay is part of a 50-state series about the nation’s constitutions. We’ve asked an expert from each state to dive into their constitution, narrate its history, identify its quirks, and summarize ...

Issues on the dockets include seats on a swing-state election board, prosecutors’ cooperation with ICE, and birth certificate changes for transgender individuals. Each month, State Court Report ...

Voters approved state constitutional protections for reproductive rights. Now, courts are interpreting what they mean — and not just in cases about abortion. Over the past two and a half years, ...

The Kansas courts again are at the epicenter of conflict about reproductive rights in the state. In early August, a district judge in Johnson County handed down a nearly 300-page ruling striking down ...

Two rulings offer lessons for voters, officials, and courts regarding law enforcement seizing election materials during the ...