State Constitutions

Every state has its own constitution, and the first, written in 1776 and 1777, predate the U.S. Constitution. Massachusetts's constitution of 1780, drafted largely by John Adams, is the oldest written constitution still in force anywhere. Most states have replaced their constitutions at least once, and Louisiana has had eleven. Because state governments hold general rather than enumerated powers, state constitutions mainly limit and organize power rather than grant it, and they often address subjects such as public education, debt limits, taxation, local government, and natural resources in great detail.

State constitutions are much easier to amend than the federal one. Most allow the legislature to propose amendments for voter approval, 18 states let citizens propose constitutional amendments by initiative, and 14 states periodically ask voters whether to call a constitutional convention. As a result, they average more than 150 amendments each. Alabama's, with nearly a thousand amendments, many dealing with individual counties, became the longest constitution in the world and was reorganized in a recompiled version approved by voters in 2022.

State constitutions can protect rights more broadly than the U.S. Constitution, and state courts interpreting them have the final word on their meaning. Justice William Brennan urged in a 1977 article that state courts use their own constitutions to protect individual rights, and many have done so on subjects such as school funding, search and seizure, and same-sex marriage before national rulings. After the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision, abortion rights disputes shifted largely to state constitutions, through court cases and ballot measures in states including Michigan in 2022 and Ohio in 2023.