Skip to content
Elections Simplified

Shall Judge Matthew R. Kahler of the Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court be retained in office?

Unofficial result: Won — Matthew R. Kahler (Nonpartisan)

Source: electionresults.nebraska.gov

Douglas County, Nebraska
Retention race

What does this office do?

  • Deciding trials in the county
  • Ruling on evidence and setting sentences in criminal cases
  • Deciding family, probate, and civil disputes

Affects: Public Safety and Crime Control, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, Housing Affordability,

Matthew R. Kahler

Nonpartisan · Incumbent

Matthew R. Kahler has been a Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court judge since 2017. Before that he was a partner in an Omaha law firm and a Douglas County prosecutor, and he has worked on efforts to move juvenile cases through court faster.

Track record

Track record — General

General · 7 records

  • Served as a Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court judge since 2017. Before that he was a partner at the Finley & Kahler law firm from 2007 to 2017 and a Douglas County deputy county attorney from 2002 to 2007.

    October 7, 2026

    Source: nebraskajudicial.gov

  • Was upheld by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on his ruling that a teen charged with crimes in juvenile court had no right to a jury trial.

    June 4, 2024

    Source: nebraska.gov

  • Was upheld by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on his decision to end a father's parental rights to his son.

    May 10, 2022

    Source: courtlistener.com

  • Won his 2020 retention election as a Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court judge, 152,069 votes to 60,072 (72 percent yes).

    November 3, 2020

    Source: sos.nebraska.gov

  • Was upheld by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on his ruling that a teenage girl was habitually truant from school.

    June 25, 2019

    Source: courtlistener.com

  • Was partly reversed by the Nebraska Court of Appeals, which upheld his ruling taking jurisdiction over a child but struck the part of his plan that required the father to complete domestic violence classes.

    March 12, 2019

    Source: courtlistener.com

  • Was upheld by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on his order revoking a teenager's juvenile probation and sending him to the state youth treatment center in Kearney.

    October 9, 2018

    Source: courtlistener.com

Sources: votedouglascounty-ne.gov · sos.nebraska.gov