(Picture credit City of Lincoln)
The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the City of Lincoln to pay Attorney General Mike Hilgers’ attorney fees Wednesday following a successful Hilgers suit against the city.
In September, the court ruled 5-2 in State Ex Rel Hilgers v. Weber that the City of Lincoln had to submit three charter amendments for the November 2026 statewide ballot.
Hilgers had sought preemptive writs of mandamus after certain officials indicated and city attorney Yohance Christie confirmed that the city council intended to submit the amendments for the May 2027 citywide ballot.
Nebraska law requires that upon verification of signatures, charter amendments must be submitted to the qualified electors “at the next general or special election not held within thirty days.” The court considered whether that meant any general election or specifically a city general election.
The Good Government Lincoln amendments in question seek to alter the structure of elections in the city, coinciding city, state, and general elections in addition to granting voting rights to residents of the city’s extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction.
Earlier this month, Hilgers announced he had additionally motioned for the city to cover an estimated $19,000 of his office’s expenses on the case.
“As a matter of policy, the award of fees in connection with a writ makes a lot of sense--it acts to deter public officials from ignoring their legal duties,” he said via Twitter.
He stated that the city had repeatedly placed “similarly situated amendments” on the November ballot in previous years, undercutting their own argument:
“There’s no real wiggle room… It should not take a lawsuit for the City to do its duty.”
On Wednesday in another 5-2 ruling, the Nebraska Supreme Court granted Hilgers’ motion and ordered the city to pay $9,150. The dissenting Justices were not named. In the initial case, Justice Stephanie Stacy dissented joined by Omaha Judge Michael Pirtle, as Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke did not participate. Despite the smaller-than-requested sum, Hilgers celebrated the order.
“The elected leaders of Lincoln had every opportunity to follow the clear mandate within the Constitution to put the amendments on the ballot. Yet they refused to do so,” he said on Twitter Thursday.
“My hope is that this award of fees will help deter them--and others--who may in the future consider ignoring the Constitution.”
Besides state and federal candidates, Lincoln voters will now decide the fate of amendments 2, 4, and 6 against alternate amendments 3 and 5.
— Lewis Thune is a College Fix writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.