Read the Nebraska Supreme Court Ruling on Voting Rights for Felons

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NEBRASKA SUPREME COURT ADVANCE SHEETS

317 NEBRASKA REPORTS

STATE EX REL. SPUNG v. EVNEN

Cite as 317 Neb. 800

reenfranchisement upon being “restored to civil rights.” But

unlike some state constitutions, the Nebraska Constitution does

not expressly grant the power to restore civil rights to any of

the three branches, nor does it specify the method or criteria by

which civil rights in general, or voting rights specifically, are

to be restored. 32 This is significant for two reasons.

First, because article VI, § 2, establishes the constitutional

policy that a felon’s right to vote can be restored, but does

so without prescribing the means or method to carry that

policy into effect, the reenfranchisement provision is not

self-executing. 33 And when a constitutional provision is not

self-executing, it is generally understood that the Legislature

32 Compare, e.g., N.J. Const. art. II, § 1, ¶ 7 (providing that felony conviction

deprives persons of right to vote but “[a]ny person so deprived, when

pardoned or otherwise restored by law to the right of suffrage, shall again

enjoy that right”); Ky. Const. § 145 (providing that felony conviction

operates to exclude suffrage rights but those excluded “may be restored

to their civil rights by executive pardon”); Utah Const. art. IV, § 6

(providing that any person convicted of felony may not be permitted to

vote until such right “is restored as provided by statute”); N.C. Const.

art. VI, § 2 (providing that no person adjudged guilty of a felony “shall

be permitted to vote unless that person shall be first restored to the rights

of citizenship in the manner prescribed by law”); Or. Const. art. II, § 3

(providing that “privilege of an elector, upon conviction of any crime

which is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, shall be forfeited,

unless otherwise provided by law”); Fla. Const. art. VI, § 4 (providing that

“any disqualification from voting arising from a felony conviction shall

terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms

of sentence including parole or probation”).

33 See, e.g., State ex rel. Lamm v. Nebraska Bd. of Pardons, 260 Neb.

1000, 620 N.W.2d 763 (2001); In re Applications A-16027 et al., 242

Neb. 315, 495 N.W.2d 23 (1993), modified on denial of rehearing 243

Neb. 419, 499 N.W.2d 548; Indian Hills Comm. Ch. v. County Bd. of

Equal., 226 Neb. 510, 412 N.W.2d 459 (1987); State, ex rel. Walker, v.

Board of Commissioners, 141 Neb. 172, 3 N.W.2d 196 (1942). See, also,

Davis v. Burke, 179 U.S. 399, 403, 21 S. Ct. 210, 45 L. Ed. 249 (1900)

(recognizing rule that constitutional provision “is not self-executing when

it merely indicates principles, without laying down rules by means of

which those principles may be given the force of law””).