The Nebraska Constitution: Creator of the Country’s Only Unicameral Legislature

This essay is part of a 50-state series about the nation’s constitutions. We’ve asked an expert from each state to dive into their constitution, narrate its history, identify its quirks, and summarize its most essential components for our readers.

Albert’s swarm — a swarm of trillions of grasshoppers — scourged the western United States in 1875. At the same time, Nebraska held a convention to adopt a new version of its governing document. The Nebraska Constitution is known as the Grasshopper Constitution because of that convergence of historical events.

The Grasshopper Constitution was unremarkable at the time. After a failed convention in 1871, the 1875 convention took a “middle-of-the-road” approach. The proposed constitution was rejected in 1871 due to a few controversial provisions, including provisions to tax church property. It established a basic governmental structure, including legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and took limited steps to protect against predatory railroads and corporations.

That constitution remains the foundation of Nebraska law today, but it has been amended more than most other state constitutions, with 240 amendments as of early 2026. It’s those amendments that make the Nebraska Constitution the unique governing document it is today.

Prior Constitution

The 1875 convention took place just eight years after Nebraska became a state, and only one constitution preceded it. While that 1867 constitution was short lived, it came at a pivotal time in American history — shortly after the Civil War — and continues to be embodied in the state motto and seal.

When Nebraska applied for statehood, it was initially rejected by Congress because its constitution included a provision that would have restricted voting rights to white men. Congress voted against Nebraska’s application for statehood until it dropped that restriction. At the time, nearly every other state constitution had a similar provision. But Congress intended to force former Confederate states to allow Black men to vote as a condition for readmission to the Union and used Nebraska to set an example.

Nebraska ultimately acquiesced and removed the provision, becoming a state on March 1, 1867. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the statehood bill, arguing that Congress did not have the right to tell a state how to manage its elections, but Congress overrode the veto. Nebraska is the only state admitted through an override of a presidential veto. In June 1867, the state adopted a new motto reflecting its decision — Equality Before the Law — and the next day, the Nebraska legislature ratified the 14th Amendment.

Unique Features

Perhaps the most unique feature of the Nebraska Constitution is the structure of the state’s legislative branch. Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral legislature. It is also the only state with an officially nonpartisan legislature. This means Nebraska has only one house, not two, making it more efficient than other state legislatures. It is also the smallest legislature in the country, with only 49 members.

Its nonpartisan nature means that there are no official political parties and political candidates do not have their party affiliation listed on the ballot. There are also no partisan primary elections. Instead, all candidates run in a single primary, with the top two proceeding to the general election. Likewise, legislative leadership is not based on party affiliation but instead determined by secret ballot.

Nebraska, like the rest of the country, initially had a bicameral, partisan legislative branch. That changed in 1934 when voters approved a ballot measure to amend the constitution. The measure was championed by U.S. Sen. George Norris, who believed the two-house system was outdated, inefficient, and unnecessary. The proposal’s success was buoyed by Norris’s support, as well as the presence of other popular initiatives on the ballot, specifically allowing parimutuel betting (a pool based wagering system) on horse races and ending prohibition. The 1930s economic depression and the government’s failure to provide adequate assistance also led many to be more disposed to vote to alter the system. Other factors included disenchantment with the six-member conference committee that met and voted in secret to resolve differences between bills passed in each house.

Although the Nebraska legislature contains only one house, the people themselves are often referred to as the “second house.” Under the Nebraska Constitution, the people can propose laws and constitutional amendments through the power of initiative. They can also “refer” or reject laws that have been passed by the legislature, through the power of referendum.

While 26 states have some form of a statewide initiative or referendum power, Nebraska is 1 of only 16 states that allows initiative measures to both enact laws and amend the state constitution, as well as allows referenda to repeal legislatively enacted laws.

Like the unicameral legislature, the powers of initiative and referendum were also not original features of the Nebraska Constitution. However, Nebraska was a pioneer in this area, being the first state to authorize local initiatives and referendum by statute in 1897. Fifteen years later, Nebraska amended its constitution to reserve these legislative powers for the people.

The process of getting an initiative or referendum measure on the ballot is difficult. To get a statutory initiative on the ballot, the people need to gather signatures from 7 percent of the state’s registered voters. In 2024, that was nearly 85,600 signatures. For a constitutional amendment, the signature requirement is 10 percent. For a referendum, the requirement is lower — 5 percent — but signatures must be submitted within 90 days after the legislature adjourns. For each, the signatures submitted must include at least 5 percent of the registered voters in at least two-fifths of the state’s counties. In other words, the signatures must be distributed throughout the state.

The power of initiative has shaped the Nebraska Constitution into what it is today. The first initiative, placed on the ballot in 1914, sought to amend the constitution to grant women the right to vote. It was defeated by the vote of an all-male electorate. (Women did not have full voting rights in Nebraska until ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.) More than 60 initiatives have appeared on the ballot since then, and initiatives or referenda have appeared on the ballot every election since 2014. In 2024, six initiatives appeared on the ballot including a referendum on a state law providing scholarships to attend private schools, competing constitutional initiatives on abortion, an initiative to adopt a law requiring employers to provide sick leave, and two initiatives on medical marijuana. Five of the six were adopted into law, including the measure prohibiting abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The legislature has often worked to undermine the power of initiative, legislatively and through proposed constitutional amendments. This includes various attempts to make it harder to collect signatures, to make it less likely for signatures to be deemed valid, to increase the signatures required to place initiatives on the ballot, and to shorten signature collection, among other things. Many of these efforts have been unsuccessful.

Rights and Restrictions

The Nebraska Constitution has various other unique features. As an initial matter, it is a rights-first constitution, placing a declaration of rights in Article I, before framing the structure of government in later provisions. This contrasts with the U.S. Constitution, which focused on framing the structure of government, then added the Bill of Rights as the first 10 amendments.

Some of the rights enumerated, such as due process, are nearly identical to those in the U.S. Constitution. But many are different or more expansive. For example, Article 1, Section 1 states that the right to bear arms “for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes” is inalienable. Section 2 prohibits all slavery and involuntary servitude. In contrast, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. Another section forbids suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. At the federal level, the writ can be suspended in narrow circumstances.

While Article 1 is ostensibly a statement of rights, it also contains restrictions on individual liberty — many of which were adopted through the initiative process. For example, a section that was adopted that way in 2000 provides that only marriage between a man and a woman will be recognized and that marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships and other similar same-sex relationships are not valid in Nebraska. Of course, that provision now violates the U.S. Constitution, after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges extended the freedom to marry to same-sex couples nationwide.

Separation of Powers

In addition to the unicameral legislature, Nebraska has executive and judicial branches and each has defined powers, duties, and restrictions. The legislature holds the legislative authority of the state, including the power of the purse. The executive branch — which includes the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, public auditor, state treasurer, and attorney general — is charged with faithfully executing the laws of the state. And the judicial power of the state is vested in the Nebraska Supreme Court, appellate court, district courts, and county courts. State supreme court justices are appointed by the governor, selected from a list provided by a judicial nominating commission. After three years, the justices stand for a retention vote in the next general election. Thereafter, they are up for a retention vote every six years. Justices are not subject to term limits or a mandatory retirement age.

The state constitution specifically provides that “no person or collection of persons being one of these departments shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others except as expressly directed or permitted in this Constitution.” In other words, the Nebraska Constitution specifically provides for separation of powers between its three branches.

The separation-of-powers provision itself is relatively unremarkable. While there is no separation-of-powers provision in the U.S. Constitution, most states have similar requirements. However, the Nebraska provision has resulted in significant conflict and litigation over the last few years.

On at least two recent occasions, the executive branch refused to enforce or blocked enforcement of enacted legislation. Each time, the refusal was based on a nonbinding opinion by the Nebraska attorney general that the law violated the separation-of-powers clause. On another occasion, the attorney general opined that a law violated separation of powers, then sued to block the law. 

The first instance involved the creation of inspector general offices for greater oversight of the Nebraska Department of Corrections and the Department of Health and Human Services. The attorney general opined that this violated separation of powers. The executive branch agencies then blocked access to inspectors general and the state’s ombudsman’s office, preventing oversight. This issue was never litigated, but instead negotiated amongst the branches.

The second case involved legislation on parole reform. In a letter to the board of parole, the attorney general opined that the relevant law, which accelerated parole eligibility, was unconstitutional and violated separation of powers. Specifically, he asserted that accelerating parole eligibility was a form of sentence commutation and therefore was within the sole authority of the board of pardons — a board on which the attorney general serves as one of three members. The attorney general then sued to enforce his opinion, and the district court agreed with him. The Nebraska Supreme Court, however, reversed, finding that early parole eligibility does not commute a sentence and was within the legislature’s authority. 

The third situation arose from legislation that restored the right to vote to individuals with felony convictions immediately upon completion of their sentence. Previously, Nebraska law required a two-year waiting period. In July 2024, a few months before the 2024 election, the attorney general opined that both the new law and the prior two-year waiting period violate separation of powers. Again, he asserted that this authority belonged to the pardons board. The secretary of state then directed county election officials not to register anyone with a felony conviction to vote unless their rights had been restored by the pardons board. Individuals whose voter registration was denied sued directly in the Nebraska Supreme Court. The court upheld the law and directed state officials to implement it.

This pattern raises other constitutional separation-of-powers questions that remain unresolved. Executive officials don’t have the power to declare laws unconstitutional. That power lies with the judiciary, and even the Nebraska Supreme Court requires a supermajority to hold that legislative acts are unconstitutional. Yet duly enacted laws have been blocked based on the nonbinding opinion of a single executive official. A few justices voiced concerns that the current rule, which allows executive officials who refuse to enforce the law to raise constitutionality as a defense when sued, had become untenable.

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Nebraska’s constitution and governmental structure is unique and innovative. It bucks the two-house legislative system in favor of a smaller, nonpartisan unicameral. And the people hold significant power to change the laws themselves. These parts of the Nebraska Constitution set it apart from the rest of the United States and have shaped it into the unique state it is today.

Sydney Hayes is lecturer and assistant director of the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Nebraska College of Law. She also practices civil rights and election law with the Gutman Law Group.