Much of American constitutional law is not forged at the federal level; it is made by the states. In this talk, US Court of Appeals judge Jeffrey S. Sutton confronts this misperception, looking at the ways in which state constitutional law has affected both state and federal law and how it has undermined the balance between state and federal courts in protecting individual liberties. Sutton also offers several ideas for reform in four distinct areas by looking at them through the lens of varied state constitutions: equal protection, criminal procedure, privacy, and free speech and free exercise of religion.