As we know, Judge William Brennan’s Clarion asks the state court to independently interpret decisions in areas such as the state’s constitution, the rights of criminal defendants, education guarantees, and constraints on prominent territories. State courts then often turn to jurisprudence from other states to determine how to interpret similar state constitutional provisions.
But how can judges, academics and practitioners understand which clauses are common to multiple state constitutions, and how they differ and how they overlap? Until now, such research has been a slogan. The new tool aims to compare state constitutions of scholars, practitioners and judges.
stateconstitutiontool.org is a user-friendly resource for comparing state constitutions. From searches and seizures to abortions and gift clauses, you can choose ready-made topics that can be tailored to your entire range of conditions. Search results are compared side-by-side, making research and analysis easier. To make comparisons even easier, similar languages can be emphasized to allow users to instantly find similarities and differences. A search can include all 50 states or subsets.
Prominent members of the legal community provide feedback on the tools. Eugene Voke Volokh’s Conspiracy Matthew Segal, co-director of the ACLU’s state Supreme Court initiative, also said he found both helpful. Segal even called it “very cool.”
Arizona Supreme Court Judge Clint Borick asked the justice officer to find out how much of the states express, saying it took him more time to complete it, using the tools to communicate the transfer than his store clerk. Alabama Supreme Court Judge Jay Mitchell, in his consent to reject the interpretation of the state constitution in “Lockstep” with the “state constitution,” was called “a useful tool for comparing state and federal constitutional provisions.”
This tool has many uses. The judge can easily determine whether other states have a state constitutional language similar (or different) to the provisions applied in the case. Attorneys who are facing new challenges in state constitutional interpretations can quickly identify states that may have faced relevant issues. In particular, public interest lawyers can identify potential target states for litigation based on their preferred constitutional language. Legal strategists can track trends and identify gaps in the state’s constitution. A favorably applied language can provide templates for constitutional changes in other states.
For scholars, this tool offers research opportunities. This will support future litigation. For example, Anthony Sanders of the Judicial Institute recently published a book on the “Baby No. 9 Amendment” in the state constitution that protects freedom beyond those specifically listed. If the tool was available when he was writing it, the research tab dedicated to minor rights would have effectively accumulated dozens of hours of research in seconds.
In fact, given the large number of unstudied provisions in the state’s constitution, the tool’s research category itself could warn practitioners to aid in legal theories that they had not previously considered.
Try the tool. I think I’ll stay longer than I expected, discover clause patterns and trends in various states, and quickly integrate them into my practice.
Carrie Anne Donnell is an Arizona lawyer and founder of American Juris Link, a nonprofit organization that helps professional bono litigants move forward with the rule of law.
Suggested Quote: Carrie Anne Donnell, New tools allow you to compare state constitutionssᴛᴛᴇcᴏᴜʀᴛrᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ (July 30, 2025), https://statcourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-tool-enables-enables-comparing-stat-Constitutional Act
