David Alan Domina is an American lawyer and politician from

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he was involved in a number of high-profile legal cases, including the impeachment of

Nebraska Attorney General The Nebraska Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for the U.S. state of Nebraska. List of attorneys general ;Parties Notes ReferencesAG Office document(cached) External links Nebraska Attorney Generalofficial ...

Paul L. Douglas in 1986, and that of University of Nebraska regent David Hergert in 2006. Beginning in 2012, he represented opponents of the

Keystone XL pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta ...

in contesting a legislative measure relating to the use of

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

for the pipeline. In 1986, Domina unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska's gubernatorial election. In 2014, he was the Democratic nominee for the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

seat to be vacated by

Mike Johanns Michael Owen Johanns ( ; born June 18, 1950) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2009 to 2015. He served as the 38th governor of Nebraska from 1999 until 2005, and was chair of the Mi ...

; he lost the election to

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Ben Sasse Benjamin Eric Sasse ( ; born February 22, 1972) is an American politician and academic administrator serving as the junior United States senator for Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Born in Plainview, Nebraska, Sa ...

, taking 31.5% of the vote to Sasse's 64.3%.

Early life and career

Domina was born in

Cedar County Cedar County may refer to: * Cedar County, Iowa * Cedar County, Missouri * Cedar County, Nebraska * Cedar County, Choctaw Nation * Cedar County, Washington The list of county secession proposals in the United States includes proposed new co ...

in northeastern Nebraska, and grew up on a farm. In 1972, he graduated from the

University of Nebraska College of Law The University of Nebraska College of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Nebraska system. It was founded in 1888 and became part of University of Nebraska in 1891. According to Nebraska's official 2017 ABA-required d ...

. In 1973, he began practicing law in

Norfolk, Nebraska Norfolk ( or ) is a city in Madison County, Nebraska, United States, 113 miles northwest of Omaha and 83 miles west of Sioux City at the intersection of U.S. Routes 81 and 275. The population was 24,210 at the 2010 census, making it the nint ...

. From 1973 to 1979, he worked as a lawyer in the

Judge Advocate General Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judg ...

of the U.S. Army and Army Reserve. In 1982, he started his own legal practice. In November 1983, Nebraska banking regulators closed Commonwealth Savings, the state's largest industrial

savings and loan Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

, declaring it insolvent. Two weeks later, Nebraska Attorney General Paul L. Douglas disqualified himself from matters related to Commonwealth, and appointed Domina as special assistant attorney general to investigate the matter. The investigation led to Douglas's impeachment by the Nebraska legislature, on charges including misrepresenting his financial dealings with Commonwealth vice-president Marvin Copple, lying to the investigators, failing to disclose his conflict of interest in matters related to Commonwealth and the Copple family, engaging in insider borrowing, and failing to investigate when warned by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

of financial irregularities at Commonwealth. The

Nebraska Supreme Court The Nebraska Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Nebraska. The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Each justice is initially appointed by the governor of Nebraska; using the Missouri Plan, each just ...

split 4-3 in favor of finding Douglas guilty on one of the six articles of impeachment; since five votes were necessary to convict, Douglas was acquitted. In 1986, Domina sought the Democratic nomination in the Nebraska gubernatorial election. In the primary, he came in second in an essentially three-way race:

Helen Boosalis Helen G. Boosalis (August 28, 1919 - June 15, 2009) was an American Democratic Party politician from Nebraska. Early life Helen Boosalis was born as Helen Geankoplis in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Greek immigrant parents, where she grew up working ...

, the mayor of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, won the nomination with 44% of the vote, carrying 77 of Nebraska's 93 counties; Domina received 26.2% of the vote, carrying 16 counties; and Lincoln legislator

Chris Beutler Chris Beutler (born November 14, 1944) is an American politician and former Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, having served from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the Nebraska Legislature from 1979 to 1986 and fro ...

came in third, with 21.8% of the vote. Minor candidates and write-ins comprised the remaining 8% of the vote. Boosalis went on to lose the general election to

candidate

Kay Orr Kay Avonne Orr (née Stark; January 2, 1939) is an American politician who served as the 36th governor of Nebraska from 1987 to 1991. A member of the Republican Party, she was the state's first and to date only female governor. Early life and e ...

. In 1989, Domina moved from Norfolk to

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, where his firm had opened an office. In 1997, he separated from his partners in Norfolk, establishing a new firm in Omaha.

1997–2014

Domina was co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in ''Pickett v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.'' This class-action suit was brought by cattle producers against meat-packing company IBP, which was acquired by

Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. It annually ...

during the course of the suit. The suit maintained that IBP and Tyson used anticompetitive

captive supply Captive supply is a term for that part of the supply that is not owned by a company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objectiv ...

contracts to depress the market prices of cattle, in contravention of the

Packers and Stockyards Act The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (Title 7 of the United States Code, 7 U.S.C. §§ 181-229b; P&S Act) regulates meatpacking, livestock dealers, market agencies, live poultry dealers, and swine contractors to prohibit unfair or deceptive prac ...

. In 2004, a jury found for the plaintiffs, ordering Tyson to return $1.28 billion to members of the class. The trial judge,

Lyle Elmer Strom Lyle Elmer Strom (born January 6, 1925) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Education and career Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Strom received a Bachelor of Arts degree ...

, then ruled in favor of Tyson's motion for

judgment as a matter of law A motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) is a motion made by a party, during trial, claiming the opposing party has insufficient evidence to reasonably support its case. JMOL is also known as a directed verdict, which it has replaced i ...

, setting aside the jury's verdict. The

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

upheld the judge's ruling; the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

declined to hear the case, delivering a final victory to Tyson. In a 2004 election, David Hergert defeated incumbent Don Blank for a seat on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. After the election, it was discovered that Hergert had missed a deadline for filing a campaign-finance report; the belated filing had deprived Blank of $15,000 in public money for his campaign. In April 2006, Hergert was impeached by a vote of the Nebraska legislature. Domina was retained by the legislature to prosecute the ensuing case before the Nebraska Supreme Court. Hergert's defense argued that his violations of the law were not impeachable, since they occurred before he had taken office and not during his term as regent. Domina responded that Hergert would not have won the election had he not transgressed the law, and that the transgressions were therefore connected to his holding office. The Supreme Court, stating in its decision "During the campaign and, significantly, after he took office, Hergert intentionally filed false reports of campaign spending in an attempt to cover up his conduct", found Hergert guilty on charges of false reporting and obstruction of government operations, and removed him from office in July 2006. In 2008, Republican Beau McCoy defeated Democrat Rex Moats in an officially nonpartisan election for a seat in the Nebraska legislature. In the course of the campaign, the Nebraska Republican Party sent out a series of mailings opposing Moats, and calling attention to his association with a failed insurance company. Domina represented Moats in a suit against the party, claiming that the publications violated Nebraska's Consumer Protection Act,

defamed Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

Moats, and subjected him to invasion of privacy by

false light In US law, false light is a tort concerning privacy that is similar to the tort of defamation. The privacy laws in the United States include a non-public person's right to protection from publicity that creates an untrue or misleading impre ...

. A Douglas County district judge dismissed the suit in 2009; in 2011, Domina argued an appeal before the Nebraska Supreme Court. The higher court rejected the appeal, finding that the statements in the Republican mailings were protected by the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. Domina represented three Nebraska opponents of the

in ''Thompson v. Heineman'', filed in 2012. The suit argued that the Nebraska legislature illegally transferred eminent-domain powers along the pipeline route from the state's Public Service Commission (PSC) to the governor, in contravention of

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

and of a Nebraska constitutional provision giving such powers to the PSC. The case was heard in Lancaster County District Court in September 2013. In February 2014, the judge found for the plaintiffs, ruling the legislature's action unconstitutional. The case was appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which issued its ruling in January 2015: a majority of four justices found the challenged pipeline-route law unconstitutional; the remaining three justices found that the plaintiffs in the case lacked

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

to challenge the law. Since a five-justice supermajority was necessary to strike down a Nebraska law as unconstitutional, the court's decision effectively upheld the pipeline law, reversing the District Court's ruling.Bergin, Nicholas.
"Court upholds law used to route Keystone XL".''Lincoln Journal Star''.
2015-01-09. Retrieved 2015-01-21.

2014 U.S. Senate campaign

In January 2014, Domina announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican

, who had announced that he would not seek reelection. Domina had changed his voter registration from independent to Democratic in October 2013, at about the time that he began contemplating a run for Senate. He was the first Democrat to enter the race; at the time of his announcement, there were four declared Republican candidates and an independent. Prior to his announcement, Domina discussed issues that he might address, including what he called a "fundamentally unfair" tax system, to be remedied by raising taxes on higher-income Americans; policies he described as favoring large corporations over small businesses; and events such as the 2013 federal government shutdown, which he attributed to partisan and ideological warfare in Congress. In the Democratic primary, Domina faced Larry Marvin, a native of Fremont and an

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

veteran. Marvin had been active in the Democratic Party for over 40 years. In 2008, he had sought the Democratic nomination in a U.S. Senate race; in the primary election, he had finished last of fourth candidates, with 2.8% of the vote. In 2012, he had again run for the U.S. Senate; in the Democratic primary, he had finished fourth of five candidates, with 2.5% of the vote. In the May 2014 Democratic primary, Domina received 45,648 votes, or 67.6% of the total, to Marvin's 21,483 (32.4%). Domina lost the November general election, with 170,127 votes, or 31.5% of the total, to Republican Ben Sasse's 347,636 votes (64.3%). Two independent candidates and write-in votes accounted for 22,574 votes (4.2%).

References

Walton, Don.
"Democrat Domina approaches Senate starting line".''Lincoln Journal Star''.
January 11, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Walton, Don.
''Lincoln Journal Star''.
June 15, 2009. Retrieved 2014-01-20. "Official Report of the Board of State Canvassers of the State of Nebraska: Primary Election, Held May 13, 1986".
Reproduced a
Nebraska Library Commission.
Retrieved January 20, 2014. p. 4. Taylor, C. Robert.

''Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization, 2006, vol. 4, issue 1. Retrieved January 20, 2013. ''Norfolk Daily News''.
January 20, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Duggan, Joe.
"Omaha attorney David Domina first Democrat in Nebraska U.S. Senate race".

''Omaha World-Herald''.
January 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-20. "Official Report of the Board of State Canvassers of the State of Nebraska: General Election, November 4, 2014"
, p. 10.

Retrieved 2015-05-25. Jenkins, Nate.
''Lincoln Journal Star''.
April 11, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. WOWT.
May 11, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. O'Hanlon, Kevin.
''Washington Post''.
May 8, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. ''State of Nebraska v. Paul L. Douglas'' (1984), 217 Neb. 199.
Reproduced a
Domina Law Group.
Retrieved January 20, 2014. ''Nebraska Legislature v. Hergert'' (2006).
Reproduced a
Domina Law Group.
Retrieved January 20, 2014. Section VI, "Conclusion", pp. 29-30 of PDF. ''Lincoln Journal Star''.
July 6, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. O'Hanlon, Kevin.

ttp://journalstar.com/ ''Lincoln Journal Star''. October 28, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-20. "Neb. high court rejects lawsuit over GOP campaign fliers".
Associated Press, reproduced a
First Amendment Center.
April 30, 2011. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Courthouse News Service.
March 24, 2009. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Beck, Margery A.
''Lincoln Journal Star''.
May 24, 2010. Retrieved 2014-01-20. ''Moats v. Republican Party of Neb'' (2011).
Reproduced a
Domina Law Group.
Retrieved January 20, 2014. Hickey, Donald R., Susan A. Wunder, and John R. Wunder (2007).
''Nebraska Moments''.
University of Nebraska Press. pp. 336-38. Hansen, Matthew.
''Lincoln Journal Star''.
October 28, 2013. Retrieved 2004-11-09. "2014 Candidate Guidebook"
, p. 3.
Nebraska Rural Electric Association.
Retrieved 2015-05-18. ''Nebraska State Bar Association v. Paul L. Douglas'' (1987).
227 Neb. 1. Reproduced a
Domina Law Group.
Retrieved January 20, 2014. p. 7. ''New York Times''.
March 25, 1984. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Peck, Clint.
"U.S. Supreme Court Dumps Pickett v Tyson".''BEEF''.
April 6, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. R-CALF.

ttp://www.dakotavoice.com/ ''Dakota Voice''. March 28, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. "Cattle producers urge U.S. Supreme Court to review Tyson case".''Ag Weekly''.
February 17, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-20. ''Pickett v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.''
315 F.Supp.2d 1172 (2004). Retrieved January 20, 2014. "Official Results of Nebraska Primary Election, May 13, 2008"
, p. 19.

Retrieved 2015-05-25. "Official Report of the Board of State Canvassers of the State of Nebraska: Primary Election, May 15, 2012"
p. 23.

Retrieved 2015-05-25. "Official Report of the Board of State Canvassers of the State of Nebraska: Primary Election, May 13, 2014"
p. 13.

Retrieved 2015-05-25. "David A. Domina Resume".Domina Law Group.
Retrieved January 20, 2014. Harris, Andrew, and Tom Witosky.
"Keystone Pipeline Eminent-Domain Foes Fight Nebraska Law (2)".''Bloomberg Businessweek''.
September 27, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Knapp, Fred.
"Judge’s decision may delay Keystone XL pipeline".KVNO News.
September 30, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-20. Duggan, Joe.
"In court, landowners seek to hit reset on Keystone XL pipeline route".''Omaha World-Herald''.
September 28, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-20.

External links

Campaign WebsiteProfile at Domina Law Group
*
Candidate Q&A
from

KETV KETV (channel 7) is a television station in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Hearst Television, and has studios on 10th Street in the historic Burlington Station, which carries the address of 7 Burling ...

in Omaha , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Domina, David 1950 births 21st-century American politicians Candidates in the 2014 United States elections Living people Nebraska Democrats Nebraska lawyers People from Cedar County, Nebraska People from Norfolk, Nebraska University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni