Journalists might take for granted their right to report utterances made in open court, but they have the organized efforts of Nebraska me­dia outlets to thank for a landmark Supreme Court decision establish­ing that right.

The media coalition came togeth­er to fight a North Platte judge’s or­der in 1975 to stop the publication and broadcasting of accounts of a confession or other facts “strongly implicative” of guilt in a Sutherland murder case.

It’s a subject Danielle Conrad and Amy Miller often find themselves addressing, but let’s be clear: Free speech needs to be defended.

It’s true, and somewhat surpris­ing, that an organization which has been around 99 years – and for more than 50 years in Nebraska – the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) often is more than a little understood.

Miller, the ACLU Nebraska’s le­gal director, feels the con­fusion stems from people not under­standing the organization is nonparti­san. 

Karisa D. Johnson knows she will be volunteering on the second Monday of every month, but she was surprised when that few hours of commit­ment each month trans­lated into recognition for her im­pact on the legal com­munity.

Johnson is the recipi­ent of this year’s Alfred G. Ellick Lawyer Referral Award for her volunteer efforts over the past decade and for helping to establish that referrals for limited scope representation are permitted through the Omaha Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service.