Annual report

Jump to section: 

• A Note to our Supporters 
• Legal Program 
• Policy Advocacy 
• Community Empowerment  

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A Note to our Supporters

Friend, 

The ACLU of Nebraska will enter 2025 strong, accomplished, and the best equipped we have ever been to meet the challenges before us. I realize that is no small statement given our organization’s nearly 60-year history, and I will be the first to say our current strength is only possible because of enduring community support and hard-earned past achievements.

There is no question that our state will need the ACLU of Nebraska at its strongest in 2025, just as our country will need all of us. While some of the challenges before us will look different than those we have met in the past, we know what it takes to achieve victory and build power against steep odds. This report recaps some of that work, including our court case ending sweeping voter disenfranchisement, our collaborative work against bills targeting LGBTQ+ Nebraskans, our support of a powerful abortion rights campaign, and more.

Along with achievements, we have included a new element in this annual report: a plan for the coming year. It previews how we intend to protect our rights and freedoms in the courts, the Capitol, and our communities.

As the late Rep. John Lewis said, “if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can.” I believe in that change, and I know you do too. Working together, we will do what we have always done: band together, advance justice, and serve as a firewall for freedom. Thank you for being with us,

Mindy Rush Chipman
she/her/hers
Executive Director

Celebrating: 

• 14 full-time staff members, an all-time high for our organization. This year, we welcomed Development Associate Adairah Thapa, Finance Director Michael Berry, and Communications Strategist Dafnis Delgado-Arellanes.

• 189 new Nebraska Legislature bills and resolutions actively tracked and engaged on in 2024

• 4 ballot measure successes, including one to establish earned paid sick leave, two to legalize medical marijuana, and one to repeal a section of enacted legislation sending public dollars to private schools. Additionally, an initiative to protect abortion rights came incredibly close to passing.

• 134,000 Nebraskans reached through ACLU of Nebraska statewide digital ads raising awareness of judicial retention votes.

Legal Program

Our legal program is guided by our vision of a freer and fairer Nebraska. In 2024, our docket included cases involving voting rights, open government, immigrants’ rights, privacy, and more.

In 2024, we:

• Reached a settlement with the City of Lincoln in a legal dispute over a development being built across from Native American ceremonial grounds. We helped Niskíthe Prayer Camp advocates secure a series of city commitments that included training city staff, supporting efforts to conserve green space, and adopting a proclamation committing to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• Made our case that Nebraska state senators had violated the Nebraska Constitution’s requirement that “no bill shall contain more than one subject” when they combined a 12-week abortion ban and anti-transgender medical care restrictions into a single bill. A Nebraska Supreme Court majority ultimately sided with an earlier court ruling that the provisions were sufficiently linked by a general connection to “health care.”

• Launched a successful case that prompted the release of Department of Homeland Security documents related to Fremont and Scribner’s municipal immigrant housing bans.

• Filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, initiating a Student Privacy Policy Office investigation into whether school officials outed a transgender middle school student without consent.

• Obtained records for a client who was in juvenile solitary at Northeast Nebraska Juvenile Services who was initially denied access to their records.

• Supported an appeal of a court decision jeopardizing a young Nebraskan’s ability to seek legal permanent residence in the U.S. Our friend-of-the-court brief encouraged the Nebraska Supreme Court to reverse the Hall County Court decision.

• Won a partial appeal before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of clients challenging Papillion police officers’ actions during a traffic stop. We are litigating this case with the Law Firm of Daniel Gutman.

• Filed a complaint with the Omaha Human Rights and Relations board on behalf of a same-sex married couple who faced discrimination at Genesis Health Clubs when applying for joint membership.

• Thousands of Nebraskans’ voting rights were at stake in 2024 due to unprecedented executive overreach. When Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen refused to follow a new law restoring voting rights to Nebraskans immediately after they had completed all terms of a felony sentence, we told him he would see us in court. With help from attorneys with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project and law firm Faegre Drinker, we took up the case on behalf of impacted Nebraskans and organizational plaintiff Civic Nebraska, and achieved a victory just weeks before Election Day. The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered election officials to follow the law and let eligible Nebraskans register to vote. Thanks to this case, Nebraskans who had done their time, like our clients Jeremy and Gregory, could use their power at the ballot box.

Policy Advocacy 

Our policy work spans the state. We strive toward a more just Nebraska by advocating before state senators, county commissioners, city leaders, and others. In election years, our work also involves direct democracy and election safeguarding.

In 2024, we:

• Put in long hours into keeping abortion legal. We played a leading role in the Protect Our Rights campaign, and helped collect thousands of signatures to put it on the ballot. The measure fell just short on Election Day, with 49% of voters in support and 51% against. A well-funded rival petition passed, keeping Nebraska’s 12-week ban in place. Despite the disappointing outcome, election results clearly show the strength of the abortion rights movement in Nebraska. We will not stop working to build power and regain and protect our rights.
• Rallied opposition to a bill targeting college and university inclusion programs. LB 1330 had deeply problematic language and would have banned some campus conversations on diverse experiences and viewpoints. The bill failed to get out of committee.
• Joined librarians and educators in opposing a bill that would have made it easier to criminally prosecute school librarians. LB 441 would have chilled age-appropriate instruction and posed a significant threat to Nebraskans’ First Amendment rights. Fortunately, it also failed to overcome a filibuster.
• Shined a light on concerning trends in Omaha’s immigration court with a report that offered policy solutions to ensure that immigrants are provided their fundamental protections of due process and equal protection.
• Successfully advocated for the passage of a Smart Justice bill reforming the Nebraska Parole Board.
• Successfully advocated for the Nebraska Supreme Court to adopt a new qualification form and rules that will help facilitate collection of juror demographic information to ensure juries reflect the diversity of their communities.
• The tireless work of transgender Nebraskans and their loved ones, champion state senators, and advocacy organizations paid off when a bill targeting young trans Nebraskans narrowly failed to overcome a filibuster. If passed into law, LB 575 would have banned trans students from playing school sports and accessing locker rooms and restrooms consistent with their gender identity. The work is not done. Gov. Pillen has named this ban one of his top priorities for 2025. Our strategy in this area will continue to be informed by our Trans Rights Advisory Team, a cohort of trans, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary Nebraskans who guide our approach to LGBTQ+ rights education and advocacy.
   

Community Empowerment  

Our community empowerment efforts stretch from the Panhandle to the Missouri River. They rely on authentic relationships and growing partnerships with communities across the state.

In 2024, we:

• Partnered with OutNebraska and the Campaign for Southern Equality to ensure that trans youth and their families have access to life-saving resources and care by bringing the Trans Youth Emergency Project to Nebraska. Find information on this much-needed program at transyouthemergencyproject.org/NE.
• Supported Hastings parents’ successful efforts to oppose a school board proposal that would have led to “In God We Trust” signs being installed in school buildings. When public schools promote faith, they violate students’ rights to remain free from government-imposed religious viewpoints.
• Partnered with the Nebraska Indian Education Association to send letters to the state’s superintendents, reminding them that Indigenous students have a right to wear tribal regalia at graduation.
• Partnered with re-entry organization RISE and the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table to send voting rights information and forms to county jails ahead of the primary and general elections.
• Reached thousands of Nebraskans with Election Day social media posts about voting rights and the issues on the ballot. The ACLU of Nebraska’s ballot measure guide reached more than 130,000 accounts on Instagram alone.
• Reached hundreds of Nebraskans through Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and general community presentations that covered a broad range of our issue areas, including workshops at the NAACP’s Nebraska Justice Summit, the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights’ Civil Rights Conference, the 2024 Indigenous Peoples Summit, and more.
• Debuted a new replica solitary confinement cell at two community events: the Lincoln Arts Festival and the Art From The Inside exhibition. The realistic cell helps Nebraskans understand that solitary confinement, which is regularly used inside Nebraska’s prisons, is torture. ACLU of Nebraska Policy Fellow Jason Witmer — a solitary survivor — is leading this work for our team.

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"I am grateful that our beautiful country has you and the ACLU at the ready. [...] What you do is important. It matters."

- A letter of gratitude from a supporter 

Jump to section:
A Note to our Supporters
Legal Program
Policy Advocacy
Community Engagement

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A Note to our Supporters

Friend,

It has already been an honor of a lifetime serving as executive director of this incredible organization.

As an ACLU of Nebraska supporter, I know you understand the critical nature of our work and the outsized impact of our team.

For more than 50 years, the ACLU of Nebraska has been hard at work protecting and advancing the rights and freedoms of all people in our beloved state. We did not let up in 2023. In the face of sizable challenges and moments of power alike, we showed up.

This report showcases some of that work. In these pages, you’ll find a major legal achievement for Indigenous Justice and religious liberty, an update on our litigation against Nebraska’s cruel restrictions on gender-related care and abortion access, community education efforts to address book bans in our public schools, and the launch of a new ballot initiative to ensure that Nebraskans can access abortion care free from government interference.

Each year in our work, there are victories and losses, ups and downs, and lessons learned. And every year around this time, our team is grateful to be able to reflect on the rights and freedoms we were able to defend, the progress we achieved, and the relationships we have made and deepened along the way.

“We the People” are powerful, and we just keep getting stronger. Challenges to our rights will certainly persist, but so will we. It is because of Nebraskans like you that I look forward to 2024 with hope in my heart, energized for the work ahead.

Thank you for being with us,

Mindy Rush Chipman
she/her/hers
Executive Director

Celebrating...

• 4 new staff members added to the team, increasing our ability to effect change in many of our priority issue areas, including students’ rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrants’ rights and Smart Justice reform.

• 287 new Nebraska Legislature bills and resolutions actively tracked and engaged on in 2023.

• 16,589 live phone calls to supporters ahead of the legislative hearing for the defeated near-total abortion ban.

• 7 free legal clinics. ACLU of Nebraska lawyers advised people in a variety of civil legal matters free of charge at five clinics hosted by NAACP branches, the Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Center for People this year. We also coordinated and hosted two name-change clinics this year with community partner organizations. These clinics were aimed at helping those in the LGBTQ+ community legally change their name to reflect their chosen name and were open to anyone who needed help navigating the legal name-change process.

Legal Program

Our legal impact is as broad as the need, guided by our vision of a freer and fairer Nebraska. In 2023, we:

• Sued to challenge the combination of new restrictions on gender-related care for trans youth and a 12-week abortion ban for violating the state constitutional requirement that “no bill shall contain more than one subject.” The case is currently on appeal before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
• Successfully argued for dismissal of a City of Lincoln lawsuit against the Indian Center, Inc., and community members who were seeking to appeal plans for a housing development next to sacred ceremonial grounds. Big Fire Law & Policy Group was co-counsel on the case.
• Filed an appeal in partnership with pro bono counsel on behalf of Jason Storrs and Amber Smith, who were wrongfully physically restrained and tased by law enforcement. The appeal is now under consideration.
• Represented a trans client in the state employee grievance process after they had been fired. The client was reinstated with backpay and full restoration of leave and benefits.
• Launched a lawsuit against Grand Island Northwest Public Schools on behalf of the Nebraska High School Press Association and student journalist Marcus Pennell for claims that school officials shut down the school newspaper for publishing articles on LGBTQ+ topics. The case was unfortunately dismissed because Pennell was no longer a current student, but the judge noted “school administrators would be wise to remember that policies and decisions to restrict speech in student newspapers […] may run afoul of the First Amendment if they reflect ‘an effort to suppress expression merely because the public officials oppose a speaker’s view.’”
• Joined the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Coalition, Inc., in filing an amicus brief in support of a Nebraska mother appealing the termination of her parental rights given state officials’ failure to comply with the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Legal Highlight

Alice Johnson and Norma LeRoy made national headlines when they sued a north-central Nebraska school district, Cody-Kilgore Unified Schools, alleging that a school employee had cut their children’s hair without parental consent and against their religious beliefs. We were proud to represent this Lakota family alongside the Harvard Law School Religious Freedom Clinic. Together, we achieved a settlement that included protections for students, cultural competency training for school staff and monetary damages for the family. This year also brought a legislative victory in this area. Alice, Norma and their family helped advocate for new protections for Indigenous students and others, a new law detailed in the following section.

 

Policy Advocacy

We strive toward a more just Nebraska by advocating before state senators, county commissioners, city leaders, school officials and others. In 2023, we:

• Successfully advocated for a new law that protects students’ right to wear their natural hair, protective hairstyles, tribal regalia or headdresses. The passage of the bill followed the release of a report we co-authored with I Be Black Girl, #FreeTheHair, Nebraska Indian Education Association and the University of Nebraska College of Law Muslim Law Students’ Association.
• Rallied against an unconstitutional drag ban and helped organize strong testimony against the bill in partnership with our friends at OutNebraska, halting its progress in the Nebraska Legislature.
• Submitted comment to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services regarding proposed changes to mail privileges and successfully secured attorney-client mail protections for all individuals currently incarcerated in Nebraska’s prison facilities.
• Testified against restrictive efforts to implement voter ID following voters’ approval of the requirement. Thanks to unified testimony and advocacy, lawmakers selected the least harmful option of several bills under consideration.
• Successfully advocated for a southeastern Nebraska sheriff to address misleading mailers sent by a known neo-Nazi leader that falsely claimed the sheriff’s office was seeking information on immigration violations.
• Successfully urged a public school district to stop allowing invited presenters to recite prayers before students. All students, regardless of faith or belief, should feel safe and welcome in our public schools. When officials disregard religious neutrality, they violate students’ rights to be free of government-imposed religious viewpoints.

Policy Highlight

We are all in on protecting access to abortion care. 2023’s work began with a new legislative threat. Thanks to steadfast champions in the legislature, hundreds of Nebraskans turning up at the Capitol, and thousands of calls and emails, a near-total abortion ban fell by just a single vote. Anti-abortion senators followed the defeat of LB 626 with the passage of a 12-week ban tacked onto a measure restricting gender-related care. We are litigating against that ban, but that is not all. Our team is proud to be one of the leading groups behind a new ballot initiative effort to secure legal access to abortion. The effort launched in November and petitions are now available. Learn more at ProtectOurRights.com.

 

Community Engagement

As part of our mission, we prioritize serving those Nebraskans who are most impacted by violations of our civil rights and civil liberties. Our community empowerment efforts rely on authentic relationships, growing partnerships and our team’s unwavering commitment to communities across the state. In 2023, we:

• Launched a new statewide campaign highlighting the need for Smart Justice reforms as officials move forward on construction of a massive and expensive new prison in Lincoln.
• Created a resource to take on book bans in Nebraska public schools and public libraries, debuting the resource at a convening of Midwest ACLU affiliates during Banned Books Week. Find it at aclunebraska.org/bannedbooks.
• Hosted a reproductive justice workshop in partnership with I Be Black Girl to provide resources and information on the need to get involved with the 2023 legislative session. Later in the year, we partnered with the Malone Center to develop a Know Your Rights resource for pregnant and postpartum Nebraskans and distributed it at I Be Black Girl’s Reproductive Justice Summit. Check it out at aclunebraska.org/pregnancy-rights.
• Once again co-hosted Art from the Inside in Lincoln, an annual exhibition that creates public awareness about incarcerated life through the artworks of the incarcerated and their loved ones.
• Led several Continuing Legal Education (CLE) trainings on civil rights as well as in-person and virtual presentations to advocates and supporters, including speaking at a national virtual event hosted by the Guttmacher Institute and State Innovation Exchange about our legislative efforts to defend the right to abortion and gender-related care.
• Commissioned an accessibility audit focused on our events and digital communication, increasing our ability to reach and fully include as many Nebraskans as possible in our work.

Community Engagement Highlight

This year, we once again provided LGBTQ+ community members with information about their rights at Pride events across the state, stretching from Omaha to Norfolk to Scottsbluff. Our robust presence across the state came at a pivotal time as it followed the May passage of anti-trans legislation restricting young transgender Nebraskans’ access to medically necessary care. Two months later, we once again prioritized urgent community education for trans and nonbinary Nebraskans in the wake of an anti-trans executive order issued by Gov. Pillen. Learn more at our website TransNebraska.org.

 

“Thank you for all your hard work this past year. I know the fight for human rights is not over, so I thank you for your continued dedication and strong efforts.”

- A note of gratitude sent from a community supporter