Opinion ID: 1910818
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: jurisdiction of court of appeals

Text: Pursuant to § 24-1106(1), cases involving the constitutionality of a statute bypass the Court of Appeals and are taken directly to the Nebraska Supreme Court. [7] The issue presented in this appeal is whether the Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to decide an ineffective assistance of counsel claim where the allegation is based on trial counsel's failure to challenge the constitutionality of a statute. Stated another way, the question presented is whether, under limited circumstances, an appellate challenge to the constitutionality of a statute may be within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals. Under the Nebraska Constitution, an act of the Legislature cannot be declared unconstitutional, except by the concurrence of five judges of the Nebraska Supreme Court. [8] The obvious intent of § 24-1106(1) was to bring such constitutional issues to the Supreme Court. But we do not read § 24-1106(1) to require that all constitutional arguments, no matter how insubstantial, bypass review by the Court of Appeals. Instead, we conclude that the mere assertion that a statute may be unconstitutional does not automatically deprive the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction over the case. To conclude otherwise would amount to ceding the regulation of our docket, and that of the Court of Appeals, to the unsupported allegations of litigants. We find that for the constitutionality of a statute to be genuinely involved in an appeal, `[t]he constitutional issue must be real and substantial; not merely colorable.' [9] For a constitutional claim to be real and substantial, the contention must disclose a contested matter of right, which presents a legitimate question involving some fair doubt and reasonable room for disagreement. [10] If a preliminary inquiry reveals that the contention is so obviously unsubstantial or insufficient, either in fact or in law, as to be plainly without merit, the claim is merely colorable. For example, where a law has been held to be constitutional by this court, as against the same attack being made, the case merely requires an application of unquestioned and unambiguous constitutional provisions, and jurisdiction of the appeal lies in the Court of Appeals. [11] To the extent that Metro Renovation v. State [12] suggests otherwise, it is disapproved. A litigant presenting a real and substantial challenge to the constitutionality of a statute is still required, by rule 9E, to provide notice of that constitutional issue so that a preliminary inquiry into the claim may be conducted, and so this court can exercise its authority to regulate the dockets of the appellate courts of this state. We conclude that the Court of Appeals had the authority, in this case, to consider Nelson's constitutional claim. As explained below, Nelson's claim is foreclosed by this court's precedent and is plainly without merit. The Court of Appeals erred in declining to address his argument. But because this is the first instance in which we have held that the Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to determine, in limited circumstances, whether the constitutionality of a statute is implicated and because Nelson's argument is meritless, the court's error was harmless.