Protecting Rights in State Courts

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Introduction

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Overview

Most of us would be surprised to learn that we enjoy constitutional rights far beyond those penned by the nation's Founding Fathers. That's because every state also has its own constitution, and many of them provide rights and freedoms that are nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

The citizens of Tennessee, for example, enjoy the constitutional right to sail on the Mississippi River, Pennsylvanians, under their state charter, are entitled to “clean air, pure water and to the preservation…of the environment.” Those who live in California and Rhode Island have a constitutional right to fish (the state of Vermont tosses in hunting). New Hampshire's Constitution doesn't go quite that far, but it does contain a provision entitling its citizens to state-run lottery games. Louisiana uses its lengthy constitution to enshrine the memory of Huey P. Long, the folk-hero governor and senator who was assassinated in 1935; one section of the Louisiana charter declares Long's birthday to be a state holiday.