Jon Cumberland Bruning (born April 30, 1969) is an American politician who served as the 32nd Attorney General of Nebraska from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented the 3rd district in the Nebraska Legislature from 1997 until 2003. He was a candidate in the 2012 United States Senate election in Nebraska, losing the Republican nomination to Deb Fischer and in the 2014 Nebraska gubernatorial election, also losing the nomination to Pete Ricketts.
Early life, education and legal career
Bruning was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, a fifth generation Nebraskan, and graduated from Lincoln Southeast High School. After high school, Bruning went on to the University of Nebraska where he received a bachelor's degree in 1990 with High Distinction. Bruning was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Innocents Society, a senior honor society at Nebraska that honors 13 seniors for leadership, scholarship and service. After completing his undergraduate studies, Bruning attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1994.
In 1995, Bruning married Deonne Niemack; the couple has two children, Lauren and Jack.
Bruning served as general counsel for Vital Learning Corporation from 1995 to 1997.
Political career
Nebraska Legislature
Bruning ran to represent the 3rd district of the Nebraska Legislature in 1996. He defeated incumbent Michael Avery 55%–44%. He was the youngest member of the legislature. In 1998, he sponsored a bill that would extend loans to college students in order to encourage them to stay in the state. He won re-election in 2000 unopposed.
Attorney General
Bruning was elected Attorney General of Nebraska in 2002 with 66% of the vote, becoming the youngest attorney general in the country at the time, and the youngest in Nebraska history. He won reelection unopposed in 2006 and 2010.
In 2004, he worked with the Nebraska Legislature to create Nebraska's Medicaid Fraud Unit. The Medicaid Fraud Unit recovered more than $20 million in 2012 and nearly $68 million since 2004.
In 2005, Bruning launched a criminal probe of University of Nebraska Regent David Hergert related to campaign finances. In the same year, he charged a 20-year-old man with rape after his 14-year-old wife became pregnant.
He served as President of the National Association of Attorneys General from 2009 to 2010. He traveled to Iraq as President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and signed training agreement with Iraq Jurists Union.
During a speech in August 2011, Bruning compared welfare recipients to raccoons. Bruning said his comment might have been "inartful" but that he was trying to make a point about spending cuts being necessary.
In August 2011, the Omaha World-Herald reported that Bruning had purchased a lakeside house valued at $675,000 near the Platte River in partnership with two Nelnet executives, almost a year after he and his office had been accused of acting favorably toward the student loan company by not enforcing payment of a $1 million judgment awarded to the State of Nebraska when Nelnet was under fire for alleged improper business practices.
In 2012, Bruning sued the Federal government of the United States over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a 26 state coalition. His office led the legal challenge to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's provision regarding employer-paid health insurance requirements related to abortion.
In 2013, Bruning was fined a $19,000 civil penalty by the Federal Election Commission for campaign finance violations during his 2012 U.S. Senate election effort.
In late 2014, Bruning, together with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, filed a suit in the Supreme Court of the United States in which they asked that Colorado's Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana in that state, be struck down. Bruning and Pruitt argued that the Colorado measure violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, since the U.S. Congress had enacted the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which imposed a nationwide ban on marijuana. In connection with the suit, Bruning declared that marijuana was a "gateway drug that is a detriment to society" and that "I don't want it to be a legal option for my children or your option or anyone's children in this state or in this country."
Bruning left office as Nebraska Attorney General with the inauguration of his successor, Doug Peterson, on January 8, 2015.