Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Heavican reflects on 18 years on the bench (2025)

LINCOLN — For the past 18 years, Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Heavican led the state’s high court through decisions on some of the most contentious topics of recent decades — from restrictions on abortion to marijuana legalization to the constitutionality of methods used to execute death row inmates.

Asked if he thinks about the impact of the court’s rulings on Nebraska’s citizens, Heavican said it’s always a consideration — but the potential consequences of a ruling don’t change what the law requires.

“You have to try to follow the law, which sometimes has unpleasant consequences for at least one side of the case, and sometimes for a broader swath of the public,” Heavican said. “But, you have to follow the law, even (if) sometimes there are bad consequences.”

In a wide-ranging interview with The World-Herald at his office in Lincoln on Tuesday, Heavican, 77, reflected on his tenure leading the state’s “court of last resort” ahead of his retirement at the end of October. A successor to Heavican has not yet been named, but four finalists have been forwarded to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen for consideration.

Heavican, a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law, began his career at the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office in 1975, and he went on to be elected Lancaster County attorney in 1981. After a narrow loss in the Republican primary election for state attorney general in 1990, Heavican traded state courts for federal and became a prosecutor with Nebraska’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Heavican was named the U.S. attorney for the District of Nebraska by President George W. Bush in 2001. The gig was a “political appointment” — something Heavican was aware of as Bush neared the middle of his second term in office. So when former Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hendry announced his retirement in 2006, Heavican decided to submit his name for consideration.

While the other finalists for the chief justice job had experience as judges, Heavican did not. Nonetheless, on Sept. 20, 2006, then-Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman announced that Heavican would join the bench as chief justice. At the time, Heineman lauded Heavican for his “conservative, common-sense” approach and his “ease and accessibility.”

“I had practiced in the state system earlier in my career, so I saw it more as a challenge than something to worry about,” Heavican said of taking on the job without judicial experience.

‘A very conservative court’

Heavican has not shied away from controversial opinions, even when that means dissenting from his colleagues. Early in his tenure as chief justice, in 2008, Heavican was the sole dissenter in a case that deemed the electric chair as a means of execution to be an unconstitutional form of cruel and unusual punishment. He wrote in his dissent that it was misguided to rely on “contemporary standards of decency” when determining if a punishment is cruel. He also dissented in a 2014 case in which the majority ruled in favor of retroactively resentencing “juvenile lifers” who were sentenced to life in prison without parole when they were under 18.

He ruled alongside the majority in a number of recent controversial cases, like the 2020 takedown of a ballot initiative seeking to legalize and regulate medical marijuana, and the July ruling that allowed Nebraska’s current ban on abortions after 12 weeks’ gestation to go into effect.

The theory that undergirds Heavican’s approach to the law, he said, is one of “great deference” to the legislative branch. He said Nebraska being one of a few states that require a supermajority of judges — 5 of the 7 — to agree before a state statute can be deemed unconstitutional is an example of the judiciary’s respect for the Legislature’s authority.

“This is a very conservative court, and what that means philosophically is we give great deference to the Legislature,” Heavican said. “Oftentimes, you will see us hinting at the end of an opinion: ‘This is what the law is, and if you aren’t happy about what we did, you need to run over to the Legislature.’ We are not a second legislature.”

That thinking was on display in the majority opinion penned by Heavican in Planned Parenthood v. Hilgers, which found that the bill banning gender-affirming care for minors and abortions after 12 weeks’ gestation did not violate a state constitutional provision that a bill can only pertain to one subject. In considering single-subject challenges, Heavican wrote, the court is “guided by our respect for the Legislature as our coequal branch of government, as well as its role in setting policy for our state.”

Still, Heavican said, there is “always a little tension with the Legislature wanting to encroach on powers or functions of the court.” One example he pointed to was a “long-standing dispute” between the judicial branch and the Legislature over the inspector general’s authority to oversee probation.

Court accessibility a point of pride

Though the chief justice is most visible for his role in the court’s decision-making, Heavican is also tasked with serving as the chief administrator of the judicial branch, which encompasses more than 1,500 employees across multiple departments. In addition to court staff, the judicial branch oversees both adult and juvenile probation programs and the Office of the Public Guardian, which appoints guardians and conservators for vulnerable individuals.

The secret to management, Heavican said, is simple: “Delegate, delegate, delegate.”

Heavican said he’s most proud of the judicial branch’s moves to “make the courts a little bit more visible to the public.”

“When I came on, I heard lots of lawyers in the Bar Association saying, ‘Oh, we’re the forgotten branch of government. Nobody knows what we do,’” Heavican said. “I felt that there were ways that we could be more open to the public, and more visible, so people could understand what the courts do and how important the courts are.”

Under Heavican’s leadership, the Nebraska Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals began livestreaming oral arguments, and it now archives the arguments on its website for the public to view. He led the pilot project and eventual rule change that allowed news cameras into court proceedings.

There are still some issues that Heavican wishes got more attention during his time on the bench. He believes that the court structure should be simplified: Instead of the current two-tier system that separates trial courts into county and district courts, Heavican favors having just one type of judge — an idea that “never got legs” over the last 18 years. He also said the fact that district court clerks are elected county employees — not judicial branch employees, like county court clerks — has made it “very difficult ... to make sure they’re on the same page as the rest of the court system.”

“The Legislature is almost picked up on that idea, and I expect there to be some progress,” Heavican said.