Nagbe represented Montserrado County during the 1983 Constitutional Convention to draft a new constitution for the country due to the previous constitution's suspension after the 1980 coup d'état. On 16 January 1986, the newly elected President Samuel Doe nominated Nagbe to become the Chief Justice of Liberia, replacing the transitional Chief Justice, Emmanuel Gbalazeh. However, Nagbe was unconstitutionally forced to resign by Doe on 18 June 1987, along with the entire Supreme Court bench.