Until recently, just seven water lawsuits had been heard in the Supreme Court's history, he said. For the Republican case, the high court appointed Vincent McKusick, former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Court, as special master. McKusick conducted a conference with attorneys for all sides in Kansas City on Monday and Tuesday. Jess said the point of this week's conference was to set up the schedule for the rest of the case. Jess said he often was asked why the lawsuit could not simply be settled.
Nobody wants to do that.
Much is at stake in the Republican lawsuit, Jess said. If Nebraska's 2,600 wells in the aquifer all irrigated 100 acres and all 2,600 owners of those wells were told they had to reduce their irrigation by 40 percent, it would equal large economic problems in Nebraska, he said. One student said he learned a lot from Jess. This really put it in perspective for me.