Marijuana Moment: Nebraska Judge Dismisses Legal Challenges To Voter-Approved Medical Marijuana Measures

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“The petitions fulfill all constitutional and statutory requirements and are thus, legally sufficient under Nebraska law.”

By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner

A Lancaster County District Court judge has dismissed major legal challenges against Nebraska’s two medical cannabis petitions, although the ruling is likely to be appealed.

District Judge Susan Strong, in a 57-page order Tuesday afternoon, said the “case was about numbers.” However, the lawsuit brought by John Kuehn, a former Republican state senator and former State Board of Health member, and aided by Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) and the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office fell “well short” of invalidating enough petition signatures secured for ballot access by this summer, Strong concluded.

The Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign had two measures on the ballot, one to legalize medical cannabis and the other to regulate it. The campaign needed 86,499 valid signatures on each petition.

When Evnen certified the measures for the November ballot, he said they both exceeded that number by almost 3,500.

Strong ruled Tuesday that the “presumption of validity” was lost for 711 signatures on the legalization petition and 826 on the regulatory petition.

“In a record of this size, it is likely, perhaps inevitable, that the Court has made some mathematical errors,” Strong wrote. “It is also possible that the Court missed a few petitions that should lose their presumption of validity under this Court’s reasoning.”

Strong cautioned that the judgment wasn’t based on the inclusion or exclusion of a few petitions and that, either way, Evnen and Kuehn “would still fall short” of challenged signatures.

“The petitions fulfill all constitutional and statutory requirements and are thus, legally sufficient under Nebraska law,” Strong wrote.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office who has represented Evnen said in a text, “We appreciate the Court’s time and thoughtful consideration in deciding this matter. We are reviewing the decision and considering next steps.”

This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.

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