The Nebraska Law Review

Effective Utilization of a Questioned Document Examiner

Winsor C. Moore

I. Introduction

II. Document Examination as a Profession … A. Historical Development … B. Qualifications of the Document Expert

III. Development of a Document Case by the Attorney … A. General … B. Evidence of Invalidity … C. Classification of Questioned Documents … D. Capabilities of a Qualified Document Examiner … E. Care and Preservation of Disputed Document … F. Interviews with Prospective Witnesses … G. Acquisition of Standards … 1. General … 2. Collected Standards … 3. Requested Standards … H. Collateral Study

IV. Function of Document Examiner upon Referral and before Trial … A. Referral to Document Examiner … B. Types of Examination Made by Trained Examiner … C. Report of the Document Examiner … D. Preparation of Document Examiner for Trial … E. Pre-Trial Conference

V. Trial … A. General … B. Proof of Genuine Specimens … C. Establishing Qualifications of Document Examiner … D. Direct Testimony … E. Cross-Examination … F. Redirect Examination … G. Weight Given to Testimony of Examiner

VI. Post-Trial Conference … A. Critique … B. Fees

VII. Conclusion


Nebraska “Grade A” Dairy Regulation—A Study in Regulative Overlap

Deryl F. Hamann

I. Introduction … A. State Statutes Predating the 1957 “Grade A” Law … 1. 1951 Grade A Labeling Law … 2. General Milk Statutes … B. Municipal Ordinances

II. The New “Grade A” Law and Municipal Milk Control … A. Basic Policy Factors in Municipal Milk Control … B. Validity of Existing Municipal Ordinances … 1. Power of the Municipality to Legislate … 2. Pre-emption and Conflict—State versus Municipal Control … a. Occupation or Pre-emption of the Field … b. State-Municipal Conflict … 3. Interference with Liberty … C. Effect If Municipal Ordinances Are Generally Valid … 1. Confusion of Standards … 2. Inspection by Local Officials … D. The Reference Problem

III. “Grade A” and Other Nebraska Dairy Statutes

IV. Desirability of the USPHS Milk Ordinance and Code

V. Suggested Changes … A. Adoption of the USPHS Milk Ordinance and Code … B. State-Municipal Control … C. Grade A and Other Nebraska Statutes … 1. Foreign substances … 2. Nonfat solids in skim milk … 3. Bacteria … 4. Tuberculosis inspection

VI. Conclusion


The Use of Real Evidence

Donald P. Lay

I. Introduction

II. Objections to Use

III. Use by Defendant

IV. Illustrative Proof … A. Photographs … B. X-rays … C. Models, Charts, Diagrams, and Maps … D. Blackboards

V. Conclusion


Practice and Procedure before the Nebraska State Railway Commission

J. Max Harding

I. Introduction

II. The Original or Extension Application

III. The Transfer Application

IV. Orders to Show Cause and Formal Complaints

V. After the Hearing

VI. Conclusion


Standing on Thin Ice: How Nebraska’s Standing Doctrine Prevents the Majority of Surface Water Users from Obtaining Judicial Relief against Groundwater Users Interfering with Their Appropriations

Logan Hoyt

I. Introduction

II. Background ... A. Water Development in Nebraska ... B. Spear T Ranch, Inc. v. Knaub ... C. Introduction to Standing Doctrine

III. Standing in Water Law Cases ... A. Natural Resource Districts and Standing to Challenge Governmental Actions ... B. Surface Water Entities and Standing ... C. Contrast between Natural Resources District Standing Cases and Central ... D. Nebraska’s Standing Doctrine Prevents Most Surface Water Users from Obtaining Relief

IV. Is It Good Public Policy to Allow Surface Water Users to Pursue Judicial Relief? ... A. Arguments in Favor of Judicial Intervention ... B. Arguments against Allowing Surface Water Irrigators to Obtain Judicial Relief ... C. Policy Summary

V. If Surface Water Irrigators Should Be Able to Sue, What Changes Can Be Made? ... A. Legislative Intervention ... B. Judicial Intervention

VI. Conclusion


Judicial Bypass in Nebraska: How the Nebraska Supreme Court’s Decision in In re Anonymous 5, 286 Neb. 640, 838 N.W.2d 226 (2013) Illustrates the Complexity of Parental Consent Laws for State Wards Seeking Abortion

Amy J. Peters

I. Introduction

II. Background ... A. Parental Consent Laws for Minors Seeking Abortion ... B. Teen Pregnancy and Abortion in Foster Care ... C. Nebraska’s Parental Consent Law and the Supreme Court’s Holding in Anonymous 5

III. Analysis ... A. Nebraska’s Parental Consent Law Grants Judges an Impermissible, “Absolute, and Possibly Arbitrary, Veto” over a State Ward’s Access to Abortion ... B. Nebraska’s Parental Consent Law Imposes an Undue Burden on State Wards Seeking an Abortion ... C. Nebraska’s Abortion Law Needs Reform to Clarify Parental Consent Requirements and Judicial Bypass Considerations for State Wards ... 1. Consent Requirements ... 2. Judicial Bypass Considerations

IV. Conclusion


Intersectionality at the Intersection of Profiteering and Immigration Detention

Mariela Olivares

This Article presents an original exploration of the connections between the corporatization of mass immigration detention, the societal and political pressures for stricter immigration law and policy, and the subordination of immigrants. In short, the social and political subordination of immigrants, who embody the marginalized identities of criminal, non-citizen, and person of color, feed the profit-seeking carceral machine. To illuminate this practice, the Article uses as a case study the increased detention of mothers and children immigrants, who migrated to the United States in record numbers in 2014. This intersection between corporate profit models—immigration law and policy—and critical legal studies has not yet been fully explored in the scholarly literature. Upon setting a foundation regarding the history and constitutional underpinnings of immigrant detention and presenting a snapshot of the current state of detention, the Article then focuses on the corporatization of incarceration and immigration detention. Further, the profiteering—immigration detention intersection is placed within the context of subordination theory. Finally, the Article concludes by providing paths to legislative and regulatory reform and to modes of advocacy to disrupt the entrenched intersectional foundation.


Everything Old Is New Again: Enforcing Tribal Treaty Provisions to Protect Climate Change-Threatened Resources

Elizabeth Ann Kronk Warner

In an age when vulnerable tribes and Native communities around the country are threatened by the impacts of climate change, advocates seek new and innovative legal tools to provide protection for endangered resources. To date, legal tools such as litigation and adaptation plans have been used with varying levels of success. For the first time, this article considers whether tribal treaties with the United States may prove helpful in protecting threatened resources. Treaties historically played an important role for many tribes, as they have a profound cultural connection and are a powerful expression of tribal sovereignty. Also, when courts find treaties applicable, tribes have generally been successful in protecting the resources at issue. In considering whether such historical documents may be applied in the climate change context, this article begins by looking at the treaty language of specific tribes, which have expressed interest in shielding treaty-protected resources, and also methodologies of interpreting treaties. The article then goes on to consider how such treaty language might be used in a legal claim against the United States, speculating as to uses under both domestic and international law. Ultimately, the article concludes that it may be possible to use treaty language to protect resources threatened by climate change under certain circumstances.