The New York State Supreme Court has held the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (the “commission”) is unconstitutional in violation of the separation of powers. The ruling comes in Cuomo v. New...more
On May 4, 2022, South Carolina’s medical marijuana bill — SB 150, also known as the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act — was ruled unconstitutional by the state’s House of Representatives. The constitutional challenge...more
The Washington State capital gains tax, which went into effect on January 1, 2022, has been held unconstitutional by the Douglas County Superior Court. Created in 2021, the tax was ostensibly labeled an “excise” tax in an...more
The United States District Court for Western Pennsylvania issued a decision on September 14 that found a number of Governor Wolf’s executive orders related to efforts to mitigate COVID-19 unconstitutional. Among Wolf...more
In a decision issued on September 14, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge William S. Stickman IV ruled that certain restrictions ordered by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to slow the spread of COVID-19 were unconstitutional....more
On May 8, Washington’s 1.2% surtax on “specified financial institutions” (banks with at least $1 billion a year in net revenue) was struck down by a King County Superior Court judge. Judge Marshall Ferguson ruled that the...more
On July 5, a San Francisco trial court held that local taxes imposed by voter initiative are not taxes imposed by a “local government” and therefore are not subject to the two-thirds supermajority voter approval requirement...more