Authority

The Judicial Ethics Committee may express its opinion on proper judicial conduct with respect to the provisions of the Nebraska Code of Judicial Conduct, either on its own initiative, at the request of a judge or candidate for judicial office, or at the request of a court or the Nebraska Commission on Judicial Qualifications.

The Committee also has the authority to make recommendations to the Nebraska Supreme Court for amendment of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

All opinions, beginning in 1989, are on file with the State Court Administrator and are available on this site. Please note that the Nebraska Code of Judicial Conduct has been revised three times since its original adoption; earlier opinions have not been revised to fit the current Code.

The 1989 Code governs opinions 89-1 to 92-6; the 1992 Code governs 92-7 to 09-1; and, the 2011 Code governs opinions *11-1 to present. *No opinions were issued in 2010, 2013, or 2018.

Membership

The Judicial Ethics Committee consists of seven members appointed by the Nebraska Supreme Court. Two of the members are from each of the county and district courts and one from the Court of Appeals. The remaining members are from any affected courts, but not from the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court designates one of the members as chair and one member as vice chair who serves in the event of disqualification or unavailability of the chair. Terms are staggered and individuals may be reappointed after a lapse of 1 year.

View the Judicial Ethics Committee.

Opinions 89-1 to 93-5 are PDF only and are searchable by question only, not by content.