Nebraska Supreme Court Ruling Favors Putting Abortion, Repeal of Private School Voucher Initiatives on Ballot

LINCOLN—(KFOR Sept. 13)—-Abortion-related initiatives and another to repeal a scholarship program using public money toward private K-12 schools will appear on the November 5 ballot. 

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday unanimously on all items to have voters decide.  The abortion-related petitions do meet a state constitutional requirement that they cover no more than a single connected legal subject. 

Lawyers for both amendments had argued that their measures each passed the single subject test because they fit under broader subject statements and because abortion-related laws had covered similar changes.

Many of the arguments against the abortion-rights amendment hinged on whether creating a new right to abortion and then defining the timing and clarifying who gets to decide counted as a singular change.

As for the bid to remove LB 1402, the scholarship or voucher program for students to attend private schools, justices ruled  the bill is subject to a referendum since the standalone bill doesn’t transfer any state dollars.  LB 1402A would transfer $10-million in public funds over to the private school scholarship program.