Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Oregon

Re: Possible recourse to State Court striking down law?

The State Supreme Court has the last word on matters of State Constitutional law. The US Supreme Court has the last word on the US Constitution. For example, the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution protects individual privacy against unreasonable governmental searches and seizures. Article I, Section 9 of the Oregon Constitution protects individual privacy more strictly than the 4th Amendment. Therefore, although a statute that affects individual privacy might withstand a challenge under the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution, it might be "struck down" if challenged under the more stringent protection of Article I, Section 9 of the Oregon Constitution.

Re: Possible recourse to State Court striking down law?

Mr. DenHartigh's answer is correct but probably could be more clear.

Your question is whether the U.S. Supreme Court can be asked to take a case like this, and the literal answer is that it can be asked to take any kind of case. Naturally, the better question is whether the Court will accept the case.

The answer depends on what kind of constitutional violation the state court found. A state supreme court's interpretation of the state's own constitution will not concern the U.S. Supreme Court, although Bush v. Gore shows that there can be exceptions to what had seemed like an absolute rule.

But state supreme courts sometimes strike down state laws because they find these laws conflict with the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme court may indeed choose to take these cases, and will often do so unless the state court's opinion also contains an independent state law basis for the decision.

The difference between these two scenarios is that the state supreme courts are the final arbiters of their respective state constitutions, but the U.S. Supreme Court has the final say on questions of federal law -- regardless of whether those questions were originally presented in a state or a federal court.