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The first woman appointed to the Nebraska Supreme Court is retiring at the end of the month. Lindsey Miller-Lerman is also the longest-serving member of the Nebraska Supreme Court at 27 years. Justice Miller-Lerman told Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson she always wanted to be a lawyer.
Lindsey Miller-Lerman: So I went to college for one year at S.C. and then I transferred to Wellesley (in Massachusetts).
Dale Johnson: With a classmate by the name of Hillary Clinton.
Miller-Lerman: Yep. Well, she's a year behind me.
Johnson: What was she like in her 20s?
Miller-Lerman: Well, I can't speak to that. She was a year behind me.
Johnson: Alright. What was she like at the time you knew her?
Miller-Lerman: From the time I've known her, she is what you think she is: super bright, super energetic.
Johnson: Hillary went to Yale, met Bill there, you went to Columbia, met Ruth Bader Ginsburg there, as an instructor.
Miller-Lerman: Justice Ginsburg, then a professor, the first year she taught at Columbia, I had her class.
Johnson: How did you do?
Miller-Lerman: Actually, that was the worst grade I got at Columbia Law School. And I just want to say, even though I was on law review and I have an aptitude for this kind of thing, I couldn't keep up with it.
Johnson: I have to admire you, you did boldly state that it was the worst grade you got at Columbia. Sounds like you’re over it.
Miller-Lerman: Well, life gives you all the material you need.
Johnson: Reflecting on their decades though of experience on the bench, how has your view of the proper role of a judge evolved?
Miller-Lerman: I don't think that I've changed so much. I've always been focused on process and actually, restraint. I resolve as few things as I can to resolve the case.
Johnson: Can you explain that to a non-lawyer, thinking guy here, what does that mean? Process?
Miller-Lerman: So, if I see an issue that's just on the edges of something that's squarely before us, entertaining though it may be, I won't write about it. If the lawyers haven't presented a question to me, I don't go there. If that helps, that kind of restraint, there are other judges who will say, what about this? And oh, the lawyers didn't argue it, but here's a nice idea, you know, not necessarily this court. They're either unrestrained, showing off, or they have a different view of the job. I do as little as possible, as far as the court opinions go, so that that hasn't changed. The environment has changed. That's a challenge. I call a judicial branch political adjacent, because we're not immune to what's swirling out there or the instability of today. That's about as far as I'll go. So I think the environment has changed and media has changed.
Johnson: Given the fact that you were the first woman to have served on the Nebraska Supreme Court, do you think that your perspective as a judge was distinct?
Miller-Lerman: I think our backgrounds will make us each distinct.
Johnson: But you're the first woman on the on the bench,
Miller-Lerman: I think it's distinct, not just that each of us is, but I think my experiences definitely contribute to how I see the world. I need to be independent and ignore the irrational stuff. But I would say so.
Johnson: Was that easy for you to do? Difficult to do?
Miller-Lerman: Well, I can't judge that now, because I'm so accustomed to being the only woman in the room. It's what I am. It's what I do. I mean, I do have women's stories, and one of them being, I was at the law firm, and we had a case in, let me pronounce this properly, Monroe, Louisiana, and a federal judge addressed me and asked me to turn around, and then he said, “My compliments to your tailor.” No, not good.
Johnson: Not politically correct. How did you take it? What was your reaction?
Miller-Lerman: Well, that was really, that's really challenging, because I'm representing a client, and I’m not in a position to criticize.
Johnson: You are the only justice on the Supreme Court currently here in Nebraska to be appointed by a Democratic governor. Republican Governor Jim Pillen, who is in this same building that we are in right now, will no doubt, appoint a Republican in your place. So what will be lost without a democratic voice on the bench?
Miller-Lerman: I don't think it's a matter of labels or party affiliation, so I can't say what is “lost.”
Johnson: On to a lighter subject, retirement plans. Will you miss the law?
Miller-Lerman: I won't necessarily miss the noise, because this job, it's like people on a diet, they have food noise all the time. On this job, I have law noise all the time, so I don't think I'll miss that. I think it's a big responsibility to have a job like this. So what does Willie Nelson say in that song? Still is still moving for me.
Johnson: I very much appreciate your time. This has been a delight.
Miller-Lerman: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you. It was my pleasure, truly.