State Constitutional Law

In this, the second edition of State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, the authors present cases, scholarly writings, and other materials about our ever-evolving, ever-more-relevant state charters of government. The casebook starts by placing state constitutions in context--in the context of a federal system that leaves some powers exclusively with the States, delegates some powers exclusively to the Federal Government, and permits overlapping authority by both sovereigns in many areas. The resulting combination of state and federal charters--what might be called American Constitutional Law--presents fruitful opportunities for give and take, for exporting and importing constitutional tools and insights between and among the different sovereigns. The casebook often addresses the point by explaining how the U.S. Constitution deals with an issue before discussing how the state constitutions handle an identical or similar issue. At other times, the casebook explains and illustrates how the state constitutions contain provisions that have no parallel in the U.S. Constitution. A central theme of the book, explored in the context of a variety of constitutional guarantees, is that state constitutions provide a rich source of rights independent of the federal constitution. Considerable space is devoted to the reasons why a state court might construe the liberty and property rights found in their constitutions, to use two prominent examples, more broadly than comparable rights found in the U.S. Constitution. Among the reasons considered are: differences in the text between the state and federal constitutional provisions, the smaller scope of the state courts'' jurisdiction, state constitutional history, unique state traditions and customs, and disagreement with the U.S. Supreme Court''s interpretation of similar language. State constitutional law, like its federal counterpart, is not confined to individual rights. The casebook also explores the organization and structure of state and local governments, the method of choosing state judges, the many executive-branch powers found in state constitutions but not in their federal counterpart, the ease with which most state constitutions can be amended, and other topics, such as taxation, public finance and school funding. The casebook is not parochial. It looks at these issues through the lens of important state court decisions from nearly every one of our 50 States. In that sense, it is designed for a survey course, one that does not purport to cover any one State''s constitution in detail but that considers the kinds of provisions found in many state charters. Like a traditional contracts, real property or torts textbook, the casebook uses the most interesting state court decisions from around the country to illustrate the astonishing array of state constitutional issues at play in American Constitutional Law. It is difficult to overstate the growing significance of state constitutional law. Many of the ground-breaking constitutional debates of the day are being aired in the state courts under their own constitutions--often as a prelude to debates about whether to nationalize this or that right under the National Constitution. To use the most salient example, it is doubtful that there would have been a national right to marriage equality in 2015, see Obergefell v. Hodges, without the establishment of a Massachusetts right to marry in 2003, see Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. In other areas of constitutional litigation--gun rights, capital punishment, property rights, school funding, free exercise claims, to name but a few--state courts often are the key innovators as well, relying on their own constitutions to address individual rights and structural debates of the twenty-first century. The mission of the casebook is to introduce students to this increasingly significant body of American law and to prepare them to practice effectively in it.

When we think of constitutional law, we invariably think of the United States Supreme Court and the federal court system. Yet much of our constitutional law is not made at the federal level. In 51 Imperfect Solutions, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton argues that American Constitutional Law should account for the role of the state courts and state constitutions, together with the federal courts and the federal constitution, in protecting individual liberties. The book tells four stories that arise in four different areas of constitutional law: equal protection; criminal procedure; privacy; and free speech and free exercise of religion. Traditional accounts of these bedrock debates about the relationship of the individual to the state focus on decisions of the United States Supreme Court. But these explanations tell just part of the story. The book corrects this omission by looking at each issue-and some others as well-through the lens of many constitutions, not one constitution; of many courts, not one court; and of all American judges, not federal or state judges. Taken together, the stories reveal a remarkably complex, nuanced, ever-changing federalist system, one that ought to make lawyers and litigants pause before reflexively assuming that the United States Supreme Court alone has all of the answers to the most vexing constitutional questions. If there is a central conviction of the book, it's that an underappreciation of state constitutional law has hurt state and federal law and has undermined the appropriate balance between state and federal courts in protecting individual liberty. In trying to correct this imbalance, the book also offers several ideas for reform.

Purpose of a State Constitution; Rules of Construction; Rules Based on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Evidence of Meaning; Choice of Rule; The Purpose and Role of Bills or Declarations of Rights; Doctrine of Adequate and Independent State Ground; Members of the Executive Branch of Government; Their Election and Duties; Legislative Branch; Limitations on the Law Making Function; Judicial Branch; Sources and Patterns of Judicial Power and Jurisdiction; Rule Making; Regulation of the Practice of Law; Separation of Powers; Usurpation of Power; Delegation of Power; Local Government; Limitations on Local Government; Home Rule; Revenue and Taxation; Limitations on Revenue and Taxation; General Obligation Bonds; Revenue Bonds; Referendum Requirements; Property Taxes; Other Taxes; Exemption of Public Property; Homestead Exemption; Miscellaneous Provisions; Amendments to State Constitutions.

State Constitutional Law is designed to provide the basis for a lively and exciting two- or three-credit course in an area of law that has become increasingly important to a variety of law practices. Now, more than ever, lawyers, judges and law professors are discovering the importance of state constitutions and the judicial interpretations of these constitutions. A major focus of the book is the substantial differences between detailed the state constitutions and the more-familiar brief federal constitution that was the focus of the students' Constitutional Law course. The new edition of State Constitutional Law follows the basic structure and philosophy of earlier editions. The text explores the many common themes that appear in the body of constitutional law of all states, but also focuses on the importance of the unique history, language and judicial understanding of each state's constitution in resolving particular issues, including the political context in which state constitutions have evolved; the popular participation in the processes of state constitutional change; the individual rights provisions that have no federal parallel; the wide range of policy matters that are entrenched in state constitutions rather than ordinary statutes, and the motivations for using this unusual method of "lawmaking"; the roles of each of the departments of state government and the way in which separation of powers doctrines may operate quite differently at the state level; and the variety of processes, including judicial review, of state constitutional change and amendment. Major elements of state constitutional law such as education, local government and finance and taxation are accorded separate chapters. In addition, State Constitutional Law remains an important one-volume resource for practitioners and academics on virtually all aspects of American state constitutions. Among the changes in the new edition are: Extended discussion of the issue of same-sex marriage under state constitutions; Revised and expanded discussion of issues concerning the federal-state relationship; Updated cases and scholarly commentary on individual rights and separation of powers issues; Expanded focus on state constitutional positive rights, in contrast to the federal constitution's negative rights; New and revised Notes and Questions in nearly every section of the book.