On July 1, 2025, Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts cast one of the 50 votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose Medicaid work requirement exempts people leaving jail or prison for only three months, and the day before he voted against a motion to remove the bill's new paperwork rules. In June 2026 he voted against six attempts to bar or limit the Justice Department's planned "anti-weaponization" fund, including a motion that failed 49 to 50, which Trump would not rule out using to pay people who attacked Capitol police.
As Nebraska governor, Ricketts vetoed the Legislature's 2015 repeal of the death penalty and, after lawmakers overrode him, contributed $300,000 of his own money to a petition drive that put the death penalty back on the 2016 ballot. His administration paid an India-based middleman $54,000 for execution drugs the state never received, and the money was never repaid.
In 2025 Ricketts voted to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi, civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Their Justice Department dropped its lawsuits over police abuses in Louisville and Minneapolis, ending federal oversight of the Minneapolis police, decided not to open a criminal civil rights investigation after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in Minnesota, and through the Bureau of Prisons delayed First Step Act transfers to halfway houses in most cases auditors reviewed.
Pete Ricketts's Votes, Confirmations and Governor's Record on Police Accountability, Reentry and the Death Penalty
- Ricketts Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Medicaid Work Requirement That Exempts People Leaving Prison for Only Three Months. On July 1, 2025, Pete Ricketts voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote. The day before, he voted no on a motion to remove provisions that cut benefits through the creation of new administrative burdens and paperwork requirements. Under the law, the work requirement's only exemption tied to incarceration applies if, at any point during the 3-month period ending on the first day of such month, the individual was an inmate of a public institution, so after three months people leaving jail or prison must document 80 hours of work a month. On January 1, 2027, Medicaid work requirements are scheduled to take effect nationwide, and a 2018 study found former inmates were 40 times more likely than members of the general population to suffer a fatal overdose in the first two weeks after release.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm the Officials Who Dropped the Police Abuse Cases in Louisville and Minneapolis. Pete Ricketts voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general on February 4, 2025 and Harmeet Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights on April 3, 2025, when Dhillon was confirmed 52 to 45 with no Democratic votes. On May 21, 2025, Dhillon's division announced it was dismissing lawsuits against the Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota police departments and moved to retract the Biden administration's findings of constitutional violations at departments including Phoenix and Memphis. In Minneapolis, the court dismissed the case with prejudice, bringing federal oversight to an end despite the City's continued support for the agreement, Red Line for Civil Rights reported.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Todd Blanche, Whose Justice Department Declined a Civil Rights Investigation of the Renee Good Shooting. On March 5, 2025, Ricketts voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, and he was confirmed 52 to 46. In August 2026 Ricketts cast the deciding vote to confirm Blanche as attorney general. In January 2026, after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in Minnesota, the Justice Department decided the Civil Rights Division would not conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting, prompting a wave of resignations from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, according to Red Line for Civil Rights. In the Breonna Taylor case, In March 2026, DOJ moved to dismiss the remaining charges without explanation against two former Louisville officers.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm the Attorney General Whose Bureau of Prisons Delayed First Step Act Releases. After Ricketts voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general, the Justice Department's Bureau of Prisons, which Bondi oversaw, fell behind on moving eligible people to halfway houses and home confinement. The Government Accountability Office found that the releases were delayed in 70% of cases reviewed, keeping people in prison past the dates the First Step Act made them eligible to leave, NOTUS reported. The bureau saw more than 1,400 corrections officers and other staff leave their positions in 2025, Filter reported, and it paid more than $387 million in overtime to staff in 2025.
- Ricketts Cast a Deciding Vote Against Barring Money for the Justice Department's Planned Settlement Fund, One of Six Votes Against Limits. On June 4, 2026, Pete Ricketts voted no on Senator Chuck Schumer's motion to send S. 2 back to committee with instructions the Congressional Record prints as possibly including a ban on payments to the Anti-Weaponization Fund; the motion failed 49 to 50, so a yes vote from Ricketts alone would have adopted it. He also voted no on waiving budget rules for amendments To prohibit the distribution of Federal funds to individuals convicted of certain crimes and to bar payments to people convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers on January 6, 2021, and against amendments to compensate law enforcement officers who defended the United States Capitol, to bar payments to certain individuals and To provide for limitations on judgments, awards, and compromise settlements. Trump had backed the settlement fund while declining to rule out payouts to his family or people who attacked Capitol police, and At least 97 of the more than 1,500 individuals granted clemency by President Trump for January 6 have since faced other charges, Lawfare found. The Senate passed the bill without curbs on the fund. No payments were made: Todd Blanche formally rescinded the plan in August 2026.
- As Governor, Ricketts Vetoed the Death Penalty Repeal and Paid for the Drive That Restored It. On May 26, 2015, the Legislature's repeal of the death penalty was vetoed by Gov. Peter Ricketts May 26, and lawmakers overrode the veto 30-19. Ricketts then contributed $300,000 of his own money to a petition drive organized by close associates to put the issue on the November 2016 ballot, and by 2018 the state was preparing its first execution since 1997; an anti-death-penalty activist told AP, "It wouldn’t even have made it to the ballot without him". Ricketts's administration then changed Nebraska’s lethal injection protocol and withheld records previously considered public that would identify the state's drug supplier, and in August 2018 it prepared Nebraska's first lethal injection using a combination of four drugs that has never been tried, AP reported.
- As Governor, Ricketts's Administration Paid $54,000 for Execution Drugs Nebraska Never Received. While Ricketts was governor, his administration went so far as to pay an India-based middleman $54,000 for drugs that the state never received because they could not be legally imported, the Associated Press reported in 2018. The state money was never repaid, AP reported, so Nebraska taxpayers lost the $54,000.
What the Reentry Rules and Pete Ricketts's Death-Penalty Spending Mean for Nebraska
- Leaving jail in Nebraska. Nebraska began enforcing the Medicaid work requirement on May 1, 2026, becoming the first state to implement a key pillar of the law, so people leaving Nebraska's jails and prisons already face it once the three-month exemption runs out. 1,831 Nebraska Medicaid adults had a diagnosed opioid use disorder in 2021, 50 percent of them through expansion, KFF data show.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pete Ricketts on Criminal justice
What is Pete Ricketts's record on criminal justice under Trump?
Pete Ricketts voted to confirm Pam Bondi, Harmeet Dhillon and Todd Blanche, whose Justice Department dropped the Louisville and Minneapolis police cases, declined a civil rights investigation of the Renee Good shooting and dismissed the remaining Breonna Taylor charges. He cast one of the 50 votes for the 2025 law whose work requirement reaches people three months after they leave jail, and in June 2026 he cast a deciding vote against a motion to bar money for the planned Justice Department fund. As governor he vetoed the death penalty repeal and paid $300,000 toward the drive that restored it.
What is Pete Ricketts's record on the death penalty?
As Nebraska governor, Pete Ricketts vetoed the 2015 repeal of the death penalty, which was vetoed by Gov. Peter Ricketts May 26 and overridden, and then put $300,000 of his own money into the petition drive that returned the question to voters in 2016. His administration withheld records identifying its drug supplier and planned Nebraska's first lethal injection with a combination of four drugs that has never been tried.
Did Pete Ricketts vote to bar payments to January 6 defendants?
No. Pete Ricketts voted against six June 2026 attempts to bar or limit the planned Justice Department fund, including one that failed 49 to 50 and amendments to bar payments to individuals convicted of certain crimes. The fund was never created: Todd Blanche formally rescinded the plan in August 2026.
What happened to police consent decrees under the officials Pete Ricketts confirmed?
Pete Ricketts voted to confirm civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon in April 2025, and in May 2025 her division dropped the Louisville and Minneapolis cases and moved to retract findings against departments in Phoenix, Memphis and elsewhere. The Minneapolis case was dismissed with prejudice, ending federal oversight there.
Last updated: 2026-10-25