Lack of Diversity in Nebraska's State Supreme Court

Nebraska’s highest state court lacks racial or ethnic representation despite the state’s population being at least 20% people of color.
The Brennan Center for Justice analyzed state Supreme Court diversity and found that many high State Court benches across the country fail to reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of their communities.

Diversity in state Supreme Courts leads to higher public confidence in the court system and ensures representation for people making decisions about their rights and the interpretation of state laws.

Nationally, there has been a slight increase in demographic and professional diversity in state Supreme Courts.
The percentage of people of color on state high court benches increased by one percentage point to 19%, and the share of women increased by one percentage point to 42%.

The Illinois Supreme Court now has a majority of female justices for the first time in its history, with three Black justices among the seven judges.
Nevada swore in its first person of color to the state high court, which is also the first Black and Asian-American justice.

Nebraska’s highest court is currently composed of two women and five men, all of whom are white.
Nebraska outpaces at least seven other states in terms of female representation, with six states having only one woman on their Supreme Court and one state having all male justices.

In Nebraska, the governor appoints new Supreme Court judges from a list of qualified nominees provided by a judicial nominating commission.
The governor would appoint the most qualified candidate advanced to him by the judicial nominating committee, regardless of race, gender, or religious affiliation.

Nebraska has undertaken efforts to increase judicial diversity, such as a program that exposes high school students to the legal profession by having the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals visit high schools to hear oral arguments.
The State Bar Association offers programs to explain the judicial nominating process and encourage diverse applicants to apply.
The University of Nebraska College of Law and Creighton University School of Law make efforts to attract more underrepresented populations to law school.

Inequitable access to leadership positions across the legal profession and a history of racial and gender discrimination contribute to the lack of diversity in state Supreme Courts.

Research has shown that judicial diversity leads to increased political engagement among young people, richer jurisprudence, more nuanced deliberations, and stronger public confidence in the court system.

(Courtesy of Brennan Center for Justice, State Court Supreme Court Diversity 2023 update)

Eighteen states have zero Supreme Court justices who publicly identify as a person of color, including Nebraska and 11 other states with at least 20% people of color in their population.
People of color hold only 20% of state supreme court seats, despite comprising more than 40% of the U.S. population.
Men hold 58% of high court seats.
Four of the five states with the largest populations of Native Americans per capita lack Native American justices.
Two of the five states with the largest Asian American populations per capita do not have any Asian American justices.
The underrepresentation of women is significant, considering that women have outnumbered men in law schools since 2016, with women making up 40% of law students as early as 1985.

Lack of Diversity in Nebraska’s State Supreme Court