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Highest court in the State of Nebraska

The Nebraska Supreme Court is the highest court in the U. S. state of Nebraska. The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Each justice is initially appointed by the governor of Nebraska; using the Missouri Plan, each justice is then subject to a retention vote for additional six year terms. The six associate justices each represent a Supreme Court district; the chief justice is appointed (and retained) at large. Unlike most other states, with the exception of North Dakota, the Nebraska Supreme Court requires a supermajority of five justices of the seven to rule unconstitutional a legislative provision (the 48 others states require a simple majority).

The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. The six justices each represent a Supreme Court district. If a position becomes vacant, the judicial nominating commission, made up of four lawyers and four non lawyers, holds a hearing to select potential candidates. The commission then submits two names to the Nebraska Governor, who then determines the replacing judge. If the Governor does not follow through with this responsibility within 60 days of receiving the nominees, the responsibility then goes to Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. To retain the office, a judge must run in a retention election after serving three years. Additionally, the judge must run every six years to retain his seat. If the judge receives less than 50% of the affirmative vote, the judge is not retained. Nebraska judges do not have a mandatory retirement age, but they are granted retirement at age 65 or earlier, if it is due to disability.

The Supreme Court of Nebraska is separated into six districts, with one Justice selected for each. Each justice faces a retention election from his or her district except for the Chief Justice, who faces a statewide retention election. The districts mostly follow county lines and are redrawn decennially after the census results are finalized. The 2021 redistricting produced the following districts:

District 1 consists of Lancaster County.

District 2 consists of a part of Douglas County.

District 3 consists of Antelope, Boone, Boyd, Burt, Cedar, Cuming, Dakota, Dixon, Dodge, Holt, Knox, Madison, Pierce, Stanton, Thurston, Washington, Wayne, and Wheeler counties as well as parts of Douglas and Sarpy counties.

District 4 consists of parts of Douglas and Sarpy counties.

District 5 consists of Butler, Cass, Clay, Colfax, Fillmore, Gage, Hall, Hamilton, Jefferson, Johnson, Merrick, Nance, Nemaha, Nuckolls, Otoe, Pawnee, Platte, Polk, Richardson, Saline, Saunders, Seward, Thayer, Webster, and York counties.

District 6 consists of Adams, Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, Brown, Buffalo, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Custer, Dawes, Dawson, Deuel, Dundy, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas, Garden, Garfield, Greeley, Gosper, Grant, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Hooker, Howard, Kearney, Keith, Keya Paha, Kimball, Lincoln, Logan, Loup, McPherson, Morrill, Perkins, Phelps, Red Willow, Rock, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, Sherman, Sioux, Thomas, and Valley counties.

Mike Heavican is the Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court by Governor Dave Heineman, a Republican, and assumed office as the court's presiding justice on October 2, 2006. He was retained in 2010, 2016, and 2022. The Chief Justice is appointed (and retained) at large.

As of January 2017, the Associate Justices and Chief Justice earn $171,975 annually. National Center for the State Courts, Salary Comparisons, Nebraska

Nebraska's original Supreme Court, referred to as the Territorial Supreme Court, was established following the Kansas–Nebraska Act in May 1854. Fifteen male judges comprised the bench of the Territorial Supreme Court. During the seventy one years between 1867, when Nebraska became a state, to 1938 a total of thirty seven judges sat on the Nebraska Supreme Court. The original total of a bench of fifteen was reduced to three. The three Supreme Court judges also served simultaneously as district court judges at the time of Nebraska's statehood. The Nebraska constitution was then amended in 1908 to include a bench of six associate justices and one chief justice. The chief justice position would be held by the justice with the least amount of time remaining in his term. The judges were originally chosen by partisan election. In 1908 this was later amended to a nonpartisan election. Currently the Nebraska Supreme Court justices are elected by way of a modified Missouri Plan. In the Nebraska Supreme Court's early years there were no regulations as to what cases could be appealed and heard by the court. Due to the lack of regulations the Supreme Court's docket became overloaded. As a solution the Nebraska Supreme Court was allowed to elect commissioners to assist with the workload. Originally three commissioners were elected, one from the Democratic Party, one from the Republican Party, and the last a member of the Populist Party. The three commissioners would serve a term of three years. In 1901 the commissioners numbers increased from three to a total of nine. Six of the nine commissioners would serve a one year term and three would serve a two year term. The commissioners sat in groups of three. This resulted in the creation of four appellate courts, the fourth being the Supreme Court. Select District Court justices were allowed to sit on cases heard by the Supreme Court under four stipulations found in Article V, Section 2 of the state's constitution. If the court was sitting in two separate five judge divisions, if the constitutionality of a statute was in question, an appeal case of a convicted homicide, and lastly when a decision by a division of the Nebraska Supreme Court was under review.

The case Boyd v. Nebraska ex Rel. Thayer was heard by the Supreme Court in 1891. The case was the result of a Gubernatorial Election in which Omaha Democrat James Boyd claimed victory. There were accusations by the Populist party regarding fraudulent votes in the favor of Boyd. John M. Thayer, the existing governor of the state, refused to give up his office. Thayer questioned the legitimacy of Boyd's citizenship claiming he was not eligible for office. Boyd's father, an immigrant, obtained citizenship after his son reached the age of majority. Thayer filed a quo warranto in the Nebraska Supreme Court. The court ruled that the father's citizenship did not apply to Boyd. The Nebraska Supreme Court restored Thayer to office. Boyd appealed after the ruling. The case progressed to the United States Supreme Court. The court ruled that Boyd was a citizen.

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