Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Nebraska Supreme Court Justice Funke vacancy (November 2024)
| Nebraska Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Funke vacancy |
| Date: November 1, 2024 |
| Status: Seat filled |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Jason Bergevin |
| Date: January 2, 2025 |
Governor Jim Pillen (R) appointed Jason Bergevin to the Nebraska Supreme Court on January 2, 2025. Bergevin replaced justice Jeffrey Funke, who ascended to the chief justice position on November 1, 2024. Bergevin was Governor Pillen's second appointment to the seven-member supreme court. Earlier in 2024, Pillen made his first appointment to the court when he chose Funke to ascend to the chief justiceship.[1]
In Nebraska, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a hybrid judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission who has no majority of members selected either by the governor or the state Bar Association. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
When a vacancy occurs on the Nebraska Supreme Court, a judicial nominating commission submits the names of at least two qualified nominees to the governor, who appoints one to fill the vacancy. If the governor does not appoint one of the nominees within 60 days, the chief justice of the supreme court is authorized to select a new judge.[2]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources on the process to fill the Nebraska Supreme Court vacancy:
- An overview of the appointee.
- A list of candidates who applied to the vacancy.
- An overview of the selection process.
- An overview of the court following the vacancy.
- An overview of the justice who left office.
- A list of other state supreme court appointments in 2024.
The appointee
- See also: Jason Bergevin
On January 2, 2025, Governor Jim Pillen (R) appointed Jason Bergevin to the Nebraska Supreme Court.[1] He took office on February 14, 2025.
<---->
Appointee candidates and nominations
Applicants
On November 21, 2024, the Nebraska Judicial Nominating Commission released a list of three candidates that applied to succeed Funke. From here, the Commission will interview the candidates before sending a list of finalists to Governor Jim Pillen (R). The applicants were:[3]
- First Judicial District Court judge David Bargen
- Fifth Judicial District Court judge Jason Bergevin
- Appellate judge Lawrence Welch, Jr.[4]
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in Nebraska
In Nebraska, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a hybrid judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission who has no majority of members selected either by the governor or the state Bar Association. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
Makeup of the court
- See also: Nebraska Supreme Court
Justices
Following Funke's ascension, the Nebraska Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Stephanie Stacy | Appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) in 2015, and retained in 2018 | |
| ■ Lindsey Miller-Lerman | Appointed by Gov. Ben Nelson (D) in 1998, and retained since | |
| ■ William Cassel | Appointed by Gov. Dave Heineman (R) in 2012, and retained since | |
| ■ Jonathan Papik | Appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) in 2018, and retained in 2022 | |
| ■ John Freudenberg | Appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) in 2018, and retained in 2022 |
About the court
| Nebraska Supreme Court |
|---|
|
| Court Information |
| Justices: 7 |
| Founded: 1866 |
| Location: Lincoln, Nebraska |
| Salary |
| Associates: $225,055[5] |
| Judicial Selection |
| Method: Assisted appointment (Hybrid) |
| Term: 6 years |
| Active justices |
| Jason Bergevin, William Cassel, John Freudenberg, Jeffrey Funke, Lindsey Miller-Lerman, Jonathan Papik, Stephanie Stacy |
Founded in 1866, the Nebraska Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Jeffrey Funke.
As of January 2025, six judges on the court were appointed by a Republican governor, and one judge was appointed by a Democratic governor.
The Nebraska Supreme Court meets in the state capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska.[6]
In Nebraska, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a hybrid judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission who has no majority of members selected either by the governor or the state Bar Association. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
About Justice Funke
- See also: Jeffrey Funke
- See also: Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Heavican vacancy (October 2024)
Funke was born on April 27, 1969, in Nebraska City, Neb.[7] He received a bachelor's degree and a law degree from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1991 and 1994, respectively.[7]
Funke was an attorney in private practice from 1994 to 2007. During the same time, he was a deputy public defender (1994-1997), deputy county attorney (1997-2005), and county attorney (2005-2007) in Otoe County, Neb.[8]
In 2007, Gov. Dave Heineman (R) appointed Funke to the County Court of the Second Judicial District covering Cass, Otoe, and Sarpy Counties. In 2013, Heineman appointed Funke to Nebraska's Second District Court, where he served until he was appointed to the Nebraska Supreme Court by Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) in 2016.[9][10]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2024
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2024
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2024. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2023.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Office of the Governor, "Gov. Pillen Appoints Jason Bergevin as Associate Justice to the Nebraska Supreme Court," January 2, 2025
- ↑ State of Nebraska Judicial Branch, "Branch Overview," accessed August 16, 2021
- ↑ Note: Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
- ↑ State of Nebraska Judicial Branch, "Three Submit their Names for Supreme Court Judge in the Fifth Judicial District," November 21, 2024
- ↑ The salary of the chief justice may be higher than an associate justice.
- ↑ State of Nebraska Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court," accessed August 18, 2021
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Nebraska State Legislature, "2020-2021 Bluebook," accessed July 22, 2021
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbio - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSSC - ↑ Governor Dave Heineman, "Gov. Heineman Names Jeffrey J. Funke to District Court 2nd Judicial District," July 31, 2013
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Nebraska • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Nebraska
State courts:
Nebraska Supreme Court • Nebraska Court of Appeals • Nebraska District Courts • Nebraska County Courts • Nebraska Separate Juvenile Courts • Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court • Nebraska Problem-Solving Courts
State resources:
Courts in Nebraska • Nebraska judicial elections • Judicial selection in Nebraska
| |||||||
