List of justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court

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Following is a list of justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court:

Territorial Supreme Court justices

Indicates Territorial Chief Justice

Judge	Began active service	Ended active service
Fenner Ferguson	1854	1857
Edward R. Harden	1854	1860
James Bradley	1854	1857
John Curtiss Underwood	1857^[1]	1857
Samuel W. Black	1857	1859
Eleazer Wakeley	1857	1861
Augustus Hall	1858	1861
Joseph Miller	1859	1860
William Pitt Kellogg	1861	1865^[2]
William F. Lockwood	1861	1867
Joseph E. Streeter	1861	1863
Elmer Scipio Dundy	1863	1867
William Kellogg	1865	1867

State Supreme Court chief justices

A black-and-white photograph of Robert G. Simmons, longest-serving Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court — Robert G. Simmons, longest-serving Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court

Chief Justice	Began service	Ended service	Seat/district	Appointed by
Oliver P. Mason	1867^[3]	1873	Seat I	Elected
George B. Lake	1873^[4]	1878^[5]	Seat II
Daniel Gantt	1878^[4]	1878^[6]	Seat I
Samuel Maxwell	1878^[4]	1882^[5]	Seat III
George B. Lake	1882^[7]	1884	Seat II
Amasa Cobb	1884^[4]	1886^[5]	Seat I
Samuel Maxwell	1886^[7]	1888^[5]	Seat III
Manoah B. Reese	1888^[4]	1890^[8]	Seat II
Amasa Cobb	1890^[7]	1892	Seat I
Samuel Maxwell	1892^[9]	1894	Seat III
T. L. Norval	1894^[4]	1896^[5]	Seat II
Alfred M. Post	1896^[4]	1898	Seat I
T. O. C. Harrison	1898^[4]	1900	Seat III
T. L. Norval	1900^[7]	1902	Seat II
John Joseph Sullivan	1902^[4]	1904	Seat I
Silas A. Holcomb	1904^[4]	1906	Seat III
Samuel H. Sedgwick	1906^[4]	1908^[10]	Seat II
John B. Barnes	1908	1909^[5]	Seat I
Manoah B. Reese	1909^[7]	1915	At Large	Ashton C. Shallenberger
Conrad Hollenbeck	1915^[6]^[11]	1915	At Large	John H. Morehead
Jacob Fawcett	1915^[12]	1915	At Large	(pro tempore)
Andrew M. Morrissey	1915^[13]	1927	At Large	John H. Morehead
Charles A. Goss	1927	1938^[6]	At Large	Adam McMullen
Robert G. Simmons	1939^[14]	1963	At Large	Robert Leroy Cochran
Paul W. White	1963	1978^[15]	At Large	Frank Morrison
Harry A. Spencer	1978	1978^[16]	At Large	(pro tempore)
Norman Krivosha	1978^[17]	1987^[18]	At Large	Jim Exon
William C. Hastings	1987^[19]	1995^[15]	At Large	Kay Orr
C. Thomas White	1995^[20]	1998^[15]	At Large	Ben Nelson
John V. Hendry	1998^[21]	2006^[15]	At Large
Michael Heavican	2006^[22]	2024	At Large	Dave Heineman
Jeffrey J. Funke	2024^[23]	Incumbent	At Large	Jim Pillen

All State Supreme Court justices

Indicates Service as Chief Justice for All or Part of Tenure

Judge	Began service	Ended service	Seat/district	Appointed by
William A. Little^[24]	-	-	Seat I	Elected^[25]
Oliver P. Mason	1867^[3]	1873	Seat I
George B. Lake	1867	1884	Seat II
Lorenzo Crounse	1867	1873	Seat III
Daniel Gantt	1873	1878	Seat I
Samuel Maxwell	1873	1894	Seat III
Amasa Cobb	1878^[26]	1892	Seat I
Manoah B. Reese	1884	1890	Seat II
T. L. Norval	1890	1902	Seat II
Alfred M. Post	1892	1898	Seat I
T. O. C. Harrison	1894	1900	Seat III
John Joseph Sullivan	1898	1904	Seat I
Silas A. Holcomb	1900	1906	Seat III
Samuel H. Sedgwick	1902	1908	Seat II
John B. Barnes	1904	1909	Seat I
Charles B. Letton	1906	1925	Seat III / District 3	Elected^[25] / Ashton C. Shallenberger
Manoah B. Reese	1908^[27]	1915	Seat II / CJ	Elected^[25] / Ashton C. Shallenberger
James R. Dean	1909^[28]	1910^[29]	District 2	Ashton C. Shallenberger
Jesse L. Root	1909^[28]	1911	District 5
Jacob Fawcett^[30]	1909^[28]	1917	District 6
William B. Rose	1909^[28]	1943	District 1
John B. Barnes	1909^[31]	1917	District 4
Samuel H. Sedgwick	1910^[32]	1919^[6]	District 2
Francis G. Hamer	1911	1918^[6]	District 5	Chester H. Aldrich
Conrad Hollenbeck	1915^[6]^[11]	1915	CJ	John H. Morehead
Andrew M. Morrissey	1915^[33]	1927	CJ	John H. Morehead
Albert J. Cornish	1917	1920^[6]	District 4	Keith Neville
James R. Dean	1917^[34]	1935	District 6
Chester Hardy Aldrich	1918^[35]	1924^[6]	District 5
Leonard A. Flansburg	1920^[36]	1923	District 4	Samuel R. McKelvie
George A. Day	1920^[37]	1927^[6]	District 2	Samuel R. McKelvie
Edward E. Good	1923	1937^[6]	District 4	Charles Bryan
William H. Thompson	1924^[38]	1931	District 5	Charles Bryan
Robert E. Evans	1925	1925^[6]	District 3	Adam McMullen
George A. Eberly	1925^[39]	1943	District 3
Charles A. Goss	1927	1938^[6]	CJ
Francis S. Howell	1928^[40]	1929	District 2
L. B. Day	1929	1938^[6]	District 2	Arthur J. Weaver
Bayard H. Paine	1931	1949	District 5	Charles Bryan
Edward F. Carter	1935	1971	District 6	Robert Leroy Cochran
Frederick Messmore	1937^[41]	1965	District 4
Harvey M. Johnsen	1939^[42]	1940	District 2
Robert G. Simmons	1939^[14]	1963	CJ
John W. Yeager	1941^[43]	1965	District 2
E. B. Chappell	1943	1961	District 1	Dwight Griswold
Adolph E. Wenke	1943	1961^[6]	District 3	Dwight Griswold
Paul E. Boslaugh	1949	1961	District 5	Val Peterson
Harry A. Spencer^[16]	1961	1979^[15]	District 1	Frank Morrison
Leslie Boslaugh	1961	1994^[15]	District 5
Robert C. Brower	1961^[44]	1967	District 3
Paul W. White	1963	1978^[15]	CJ
Hale McCown	1965^[17]	1983^[15]	District 4
Robert L. Smith	1965^[17]	1973^[15]	District 2
John E. Newton	1967^[17]	1977^[15]	District 3	Norbert Tiemann
Lawrence M. Clinton	1971^[17]	1982^[6]	District 6	Jim Exon
Donald Brodkey	1974^[17]	1982^[15]	District 2	Jim Exon
C. Thomas White	1977^[45]	1998	District 3 / CJ	Jim Exon / Ben Nelson
Norman Krivosha	1978^[17]	1987^[18]	CJ	Jim Exon
William C. Hastings	1979^[46]	1995	District 1 / CJ	Charles Thone / Kay Orr
D. Nick Caporale	1982^[47]	1998^[15]	District 2	Charles Thone
Thomas Michael Shanahan	1983^[48]	1993^[49]	District 6	Bob Kerrey
John T. Grant	1983^[50]	1993^[15]	District 4	Bob Kerrey
Dale E. Fahrnbruch	1987^[51]	1996^[15]	District 1	Kay Orr
David J. Lanphier	1993^[52]	1997^[53]	District 4	Ben Nelson
John F. Wright	1994^[54]	2018^[55]^[6]	District 6
William M. Connolly	1994^[56]	2016	District 5
John M. Gerrard	1995^[57]	2012	District 3
Kenneth C. Stephan	1997^[58]	2015	District 1
Michael McCormack	1997^[59]	2016	District 4
John V. Hendry	1998^[60]	2006^[15]	CJ
Lindsey Miller-Lerman	1998^[61]	2025	District 2
Michael Heavican	2006^[22]	2024	CJ	Dave Heineman
William B. Cassel	2012^[62]	Incumbent	District 3	Dave Heineman
Stephanie F. Stacy	2015	Incumbent	District 1	Pete Ricketts
Max J. Kelch	2016	2018^[63]	District 4	Pete Ricketts
Jeffrey J. Funke	2016	Incumbent	District 5 / CJ	Pete Ricketts / Jim Pillen
Jonathan Papik	2018^[64]	Incumbent	District 4	Pete Ricketts
John Freudenberg	2018^[65]	Incumbent	District 6	Pete Ricketts
Jason Bergevin	2025^[66]	Incumbent	District 5	Jim Pillen
Derek Vaughn	2025^[67]	Incumbent	District 2	Jim Pillen

Information Gathered from Slipping Backward: A History of the Nebraska Supreme Court, the Nebraska Blue Book, and History of Nebraska By Morton & Watkins

References

[1]
Listed as an associate judge of the Supreme Court in Complete Session Laws, 1855-87, Vol. 1, Page 370. Declined appointment and did not serve.
[2]
Granted leave of absence by President Lincoln to join the 7th Illinois Cavalry. Served as colonel in the regiment from Sept. 8, 1861, to June 1, 1862. Resigned as territorial chief justice in 1865.
[3]
Appointed in 1867; elected in 1868.
[4]
Named Chief Justice
[5]
Returned to being Associate Justice
[6]
Died while in office.
[7]
Named Chief Justice a second time
[8]
Served Again 1908-1915
[9]
Named Chief Justice a Third Time
[10]
Served again 1910-1919
[11]
Served from Jan. 7 to 21, 1915; died Jan. 21, 1915.
[12]
Acting Chief Justice Jan. 21 to 25, 1915.
[13]
Appointed Chief Justice Jan. 25, 1915, to fill vacancy created by death of Chief Justice Hollenbeck.
[14]
Appointed Nov. 12, 1938, to fill vacancy created by death of Chief Justice Goss. Term began Jan. 5, 1939.
[15]
Retired.
[16]
Served as Chief Justice pro tempore from Sept. 18 to Dec. 22, 1978.
[17]
Appointed to fill vacancy.
[18]
Resigned July 31, 1987.
[19]
Named Chief Justice Sept. 2, 1987, following resignation of Chief Justice Krivosha.
[20]
Named Chief Justice Jan. 26, 1995, to replace retiring Chief Justice Hastings.
[21]
Appointed Aug. 5, 1998, to replace retiring Chief Justice C. Thomas White.
[22]
Appointed Oct. 1, 2006, to replace retiring Chief Justice Hendry.
[23]
Pilger, Lori (October 25, 2024), "Gov. Pillen announces pick for next Nebraska Supreme Court chiefjustice", Lincoln Journal Star, retrieved October 25, 2024
[24]
Elected in 1867 but died before he qualified.
[25]
Under the Nebraska Constitutions of 1866 and 1875, Supreme Court justices were elected by electors and not appointed by the Governor.
[26]
Appointed in 1878 to fill vacancy created by death of Chief Justice Gantt, then elected 1879.
[27]
Served Previously 1884-1890
[28]
Constitutional amendment approved in 1908 increased number of Supreme Court judges from three to seven. The governor appointed four judges, two to serve until successors were elected in the 1909 general election, and the other two to serve until successors were elected in the 1911 general election.
[29]
Served again from 1917-1935
[30]
Acting chief justice Jan. 21 to 25, 1915.
[31]
Was previously Chief Justice
[32]
Served Previously 1902-1908
[33]
Appointed chief justice Jan. 25, 1915, to fill vacancy created by death of Chief Justice Hollenbeck.
[34]
Served Previously 1909-1910
[35]
Appointed Nov. 16, 1918, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Hamer. Aldrich died March 10, 1924.
[36]
Appointed April 21, 1920, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Cornish.
[37]
Appointed Jan. 8, 1920, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Sedgwick. Judge Day died Dec. 20, 1927.
[38]
Appointed April 15, 1924, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Aldrich.
[39]
Appointed July 24, 1925, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Evans.
[40]
Appointed Dec. 29, 1927, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge George A. Day.
[41]
Appointed Aug. 9, 1937, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Good.
[42]
Appointed Nov. 28, 1938, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge L. B. Day. Term began Jan. 3, 1939. Resigned Nov. 8, 1940, upon appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
[43]
Appointed Nov. 18, 1940, to fill vacancy created by resignation of Judge Johnsen.
[44]
Appointed March 13, 1961, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Wenke.
[45]
Appointed Jan. 6, 1977, to replace retiring Judge Newton.
[46]
Appointed Jan. 31, 1979, to replace retiring Judge Spencer.
[47]
Appointed Dec. 21, 1981, to replace retiring Judge Brodkey.
[48]
Appointed March 24, 1983, to fill vacancy created by death of Judge Clinton.
[49]
Resigned to serve on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
[50]
Appointed Sept. 1, 1983, to replace retiring Judge McCown.
[51]
Appointed Nov. 13, 1987, to fill vacancy created when Judge Hastings was named chief justice.
[52]
Appointed Oct. 14, 1992, to replace retiring Judge Grant.
[53]
Voters removed Judge Lanphier from the bench in 1996.
[54]
Appointed Jan. 27, 1994, to replace Judge Shanahan, who resigned to serve on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
[55]
Pilger, Lori. "Nebraska Supreme Court Justice John Wright dies following lengthy illness". JournalStar.com.
[56]
Appointed Nov. 17, 1994, to replace retiring Judge Leslie Boslaugh.
[57]
Appointed April 20, 1995, to fill vacancy created when Judge C. Thomas White was named chief justice.
[58]
Appointed Jan. 27, 1997, to replace retiring Judge Farhnbruch.
[59]
Appointed Jan. 28, 1997, to fill vacancy created when voters removed Judge Lanphier from the bench.
[60]
Appointed chief justice Aug. 5, 1998, to replace retiring Chief Justice C. Thomas White.
[61]
Appointed Aug. 5, 1998, to replace retiring Judge Caporale.
[62]
Appointed April 26, 2012, to fill vacancy created by appointment of John M. Gerrard to the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
[63]
"Nebraska Supreme Court judge resigned after ethics complaint; sexual comments emerge | State and Regional News | omaha.com".
[64]
Pilger, Lori. "Ricketts' pick for Nebraska Supreme Court 'operating on higher level,' colleague says". JournalStar.com.
[65]
Johnson, Riley. "Newly appointed Lancaster County judge tapped for seat on Nebraska Supreme Court". JournalStar.com.
[66]
Wendling, Zach (January 2, 2025), "Pillen appoints associate justice to Nebraska Supreme Court", Nebraska Examiner, retrieved January 3, 2025
[67]
"Gov. Pillen appoints new associate justice to the Nebraska Supreme Court". 1011 NOW. November 10, 2025. Retrieved November 10, 2025.

List of justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court

Territorial Supreme Court justices

State Supreme Court chief justices

All State Supreme Court justices

References

External links

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