Pender, Nebraska

Pender is a village in and the county seat of Thurston County, Nebraska, United States. On March 22, 2016, the United States Supreme Court resolved a disagreement as to whether Pender is located on the Omaha Indian Reservation, holding unanimously that "the disputed land is within the reservation’s boundaries." The predominantly European-American population was 1,115 at the 2020 census.

European-American settlers founded the village in April 1885, naming it in honor of the Scottish politician and businessman Sir John Pender, a pioneer of the Transatlantic Cable. He founded what is now Cable & Wireless Worldwide, and was a director of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway.

Tribal authorities of the federally recognized Omaha Nation assert that Pender is within the boundaries of the reservation as defined in its 1865 treaty with the United States. However, a Nebraska state court held in 1999 that the western boundary was a railroad right-of-way east of Pender, because of Omaha land sales to white farmers over the decades. The tribe's response is that the state does not have the power to redefine the boundary set by the Omaha treaty with the US government in 1865.

The boundary and jurisdiction issues have received recent testing related to traffic control and liquor sales. Seeking to gain revenue from "nuisance" businesses, the Omaha in 2006 passed a law establishing the requirement for liquor merchants to pay the tribe license fees and a 10% sales tax to operate within the reservation. It notified the seven liquor stores in Pender, as well as those in Rosalie, and Walthill, Nebraska, all within reservation boundaries, that as of January 1, 2007, they would have to pay the Omaha Tribe licensing fees and a 10 percent tax on sales in order to continue to operate within the reservation. Ben Thompson, an Omaha attorney who represents the tribe, said that it had the legal right to establish such laws within the reservation. The executive director of the Nebraska State Liquor Commission said that he would consult with the state attorney general on the issue.

In April 2007, liquor merchants in Pender (later joined by the village) filed a federal lawsuit challenging the tribe's authority to demand the liquor taxes, based on their contention that Pender was outside the reservation boundaries. In October 2007 the US District Court ordered the parties first to take their challenge to the Omaha Tribal Courts, as part of the "tribal exhaustion doctrine" established by federal precedent, and denied the plaintiffs' request for dismissal. Judge Richard Kopf said he may not be bound by the tribal court, but wanted to hear their opinion. He required the parties to report back to him regularly until a ruling was made by the Omaha Tribal Courts. While the case was pending, the judge ordered a temporary stay on the merchants' paying the liquor sales tax to the Omaha Tribe.

In January 2012, the plaintiffs in Pender v. Omaha Tribe filed a request with the Omaha Tribal Courts for a summary judgment due to the length of time the case had taken. The defendants requested that no hearing be held before June 2012. The plaintiffs had submitted a detailed report to them by an expert witness on transactions related to Pender and the western boundary. In 2008 the village had voted for a five-year, 1% sales tax to finance its lawsuit related to the boundary and liquor tax issues, as well as to promote economic development in the town.

On March 22, 2016, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Pender was within the boundaries of the Omaha Indian reservation.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.71 square miles (1.84 km²), all land.