state constitution
Provincial governing document
A state constitution is the fundamental governing document of a U.S. state, establishing its governmental structure and guaranteeing rights to its citizens.
Like the federal Constitution but applying only within the state's borders, it takes precedence over state laws: The court ruled the statute violated the state constitution.
State constitutions are typically longer and more detailed than the federal one, and are amended more frequently.
- constitutional lawLegal principles from founding documents
- bill of rightsDocument listing protected liberties
- individual rightsFreedoms held by persons
- governorState's chief executive
- separation of powersConstitutional distribution of authority
judiciary · executive branch · preamble · home rule · reserved powers · ratification process · civil liberties · due process · redistricting · amendment · equal protection · framers · privacy rights · property rights · fundamental law · federalism · referendum · bicameral
- lawslaws, statute, ordinance, acts, statutes
- Reconstructionfreedmen, Freedmen's Bureau, Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment, carpetbaggers
- California governmentlegislature, executive branch, judicial branch, governor, lieutenant governor
- constitutionsbill of rights, constitutional amendment, constitutional reform, clause, clauses
- German governmentBundestag, Bundesrat, executive, legislative, judicial
- Hawaii Governmentlieutenant governor, attorney general, judiciary, county government, Department of Education
state constitutionfederal constitution
Foundational law of nation
national constitution · U.S. Constitution · city charter · international treaty · local ordinance