Lancaster County Nebraska District Court Judge Stephanie Stacy has ruled that a 2012 law passed by the Unicameral, LB 1161 is Unconstitutional. The ruling includes a permanent injunction preventing Governor Dave Heineman and the State Department of Environmental Quality from taking any further action to authorize or advance Trans Canada’s Keystone XL Pipeline. Attorney Dave Domina represented three Nebraska landowners who brought the action. He says the ruling means Trans Canada can’t use eminent domain to take land for their project.

Domina says the case is about property rights and not about pipelines.

Domina says the Governor, DEQ and Attorney General have 30 days to decide whether to appeal or call the legislature into session on the issue.  He says President Obama who’s yet to rule on the pipeline could still allow the border crossing of Keystone Xl or could wait until the issue is ironed out further in Nebraska.