The Renaissance of State Constitutional Law
One of the richest veins In American constitutionalism—yet one often neglected—is that of the state constitutions. So Intense is Americans' preoccupation with the United States Constitution, its evolution and Interpretation, that there is a tendency to overlook the vital role of the state documents. In fact, the course of development of state constitutions has been played out in ways that often are quite distinctive.
There is, of course, overlap between state and federal constitutional law. Every state constitution, like that of the United States, has a bill of rights. Thus, in cases involving the rights of criminal defendants, for example, a state court must concern itself with the precepts laid down by both the federal and state constitutions.
Equally Important, however, are the manifest differences between the United States Constitution and those of the states. One difference lies in the subjects covered by the respective documents. There are subjects—among them education, finance, and the environment—to which the federal Constitution gives little or no mention but which arc treated at length in state constitutions.
More fundamentally, state constitutions spring from a tradition distinct from that of the document drafted at Philadelphia in 1787. A study of state constitutions, their history, and their development reveals basic assumptions, a philosophical framework, a level of discourse, and a set of usages that set them apart from the United States Constitution. Hence, as the nation celebrates the bicentennial of the federal document, state constitutions merit special attention In their own right.