51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law

State constitutions are the Rodney Dangerfield of American law: they get no respect. In contrast, the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights are revered. Sutton, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, wants state constitutions to get their day in the sun. Offering a scholarly and well-documented investigation of the bills of rights that exist in every state constitution, Sutton argues that lawyers and judges ought to promote them rather than looking exclusively at their federal counterparts. The subjects Sutton examines are not well known, such as the sterilization laws arising from the eugenics movement and litigation over state constitutions' language over public school funding. The latter Sutton was personally involved with when he served as Ohio's chief appellate lawyer and poor school districts sued the state invoking the state constitution's guarantee of "a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state," litigation which led to substantial changes in school funding.