Whether the citizens of Nebraska through improper use of their referendum power, or the trial court or Nebraska Supreme Court through erroneous approval of the referendum process in this case, deprived Petitioner of his federal right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

QUESTION PRESENTED Petitioner Raymond Mata, Jr. has been on Nebraska’s death row since June, 2000, except for periods following remand. {in 2015, the Nebraska Unicameral (Legislature) repealed the Nebraska Death Penalty, but the legislative bill (LB 268) was vetoed by the Governor. The veto was promptly overridden by the Unicameral. During the summer of 2015, death penalty supporters mounted a statewide drive among voters to invoke the power of referendum, to repeal the Unicameral’s repeal of the death penalty. Sufficient petition signatures were obtained, and the voters sustained repealing the repeal of the death penalty at the 2016 general election. In affirming dismissal of Petitioner's petition for postconviction relief in 2019, the Nebraska Supreme Court did not address its own case law defining an “act” subject to referendum attack as being an act passed by the Legislature and either signed by the Governor or not vetoed within five days. The act here was not signed by the Governor. He vetoed it within five days. The question presented is: Whether the citizens of Nebraska through improper use of their referendum power, or the trial court or Nebraska Supreme Court through erroneous approval of the referendum process in this case, deprived Petitioner of his federal right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 1