They've grappled this year with the hardest and most emotional issues facing Nebraska.

The eight members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee have taken on the death penalty and lethal injection, abortion, illegal immigration, crime and punishment.

They've negotiated tough bills on gang violence, gun regulation, compensation for the wrongfully convicted, life sentences for juveniles, child custody, marriage and divorce.

Who are these senators who have signed up for the heavy lifting on weighty issues?

They are two women and six men, all but one from eastern Nebraska, half from Omaha. They are four attorneys and four in business, farming, sales.

"It's important to have people like me representing the average person," said Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill, an account executive who formerly worked as a broadcast reporter.

One in the group admits to being progressive, three to being conservative, the others moderates.

But the seating chart in the Judiciary hearing room appears to tell the story.

On the left: Kent Rogert from Tekamah, Steve Lathrop from Omaha, McGill, Brenda Council from Omaha. In the middle: Chairman Brad Ashford of Omahan. The right: Scott Lautenbaugh from Omaha, Mark Christensen from Imperial, Colby Coash from Lincoln.

Judiciary Committee members don't claim to have the Legislature's most important jobs; numerous other committees deal with critical issues of spending, taxes, health, human services, business, government, agriculture, roads.

But this committee may well deal with the most solemn and consequential of questions. They spend weeks, months, in a few cases years, studying the nuances of those issues and crafting just the right words to set in law. Then they hand their work over to 41 peers, who size it up and either accept it, tweak it, dismantle it, reject it or ignore it.

Coash, with three months of committee experience, feels the weight of the sometimes life and death issues. He thinks about the people who come to the committee's hearing room with personal, powerful, sometimes heartbreaking stories. It hits hard.

"It keeps you pretty humble," he says.

The committee naturally attracts attorneys, four with a broad array of law experience. Council has the deepest with federal government, big business, major law firm and private practice.

"There's a lot of talent," Ashford says.

Judiciary members have strong personalities that crisscross viewpoints. Ashford sees his role as allowing members to play to their strengths to bring about the best solutions.

He is energized when the committee scores a compromise that resolves a particularly thorny issue, like last year's stem cell research.

"The settling of the stem cell issue was really an amazing event," Ashford said.

He fought the abortion wars eight years, he said. He wanted the stem cell issue off the agenda. But he and others had to be willing to work long and hard.

Ashford and Lathrop, the committee's vice chairman, put in months of research, information gathering and negotiation with researchers and pro-life advocates that ended in compromise legislation.

Illegal immigration was another hot button - toxic and unmanageable last year. He and then-committee member DiAnna Schimek, along with committee legal counsel Stacey Trout, took up the task of traveling the state between sessions to listen to the people involved.

On Wednesday, Gov. Dave Heineman signed this year's resulting compromise legislation (LB403).

The three returning members of the committee - Ashford, McGill and Lathrop - can't help but still feel the influence of longtime member Ernie Chambers, forced to leave this year because of term limits.

He was a good instructor, Lathrop said, in the committee and on the floor, reading every bill and thinking about the consequences.

Committee members consider themselves friends, frequently gathering outside the Capitol to hash out topics.

"Issues on the Judiciary Committee kind of take us over," McGill says.

She has grown the most from her freshman session, Ashford said, taking on a leadership role on the safe haven issue late last year, working with families in crisis, and asking tough questions at committee hearings.

"She has the opportunity to be a leader in this state for a long time to come," he said.

Committee members pride themselves on working through most issues until they have majority agreement.

That's not to say they don't sometimes deadlock. It has happened this year with abortion and lethal injection issues. They're still working for consensus.

Lathrop stood firm on not sending out a lethal injection bill (LB36) until it addressed broader aspects of the death penalty. He's working with the bill's introducer, Speaker Mike Flood, to find common ground.

"I'm not interested in watering down the death penalty," Flood said. "But I am discussing it in good faith. … I believe in the process."

Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton is working with Rogert on his abortion-related bill (LB675). The compromises need to happen in committee, Fulton said, so that special interests aren't trying to make changes during debate.

The committee has been accommodating and reasonable, he said.

Compromise has been the name of the game this year on bills addressing illegal immigration, compensation for wrongly convicted people and changes to the state's concealed handgun law.

The concealed handgun bill (LB430) caused frustration for some members during debate, when a section taken out in committee ended up back in the bill. Ashford later apologized for his role in that.

"I should have come back to the committee and asked you what you wanted to do," he said during an executive session. "It was not my intent to … go around the committee."

When Ashford has a moment to reflect on the committee's work, he notes two great results.

Endearing friendships you can't get anywhere else.

"And the satisfaction of putting together a piece of legislation that means something for people in this state," he says.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 and jyoung@journalstar.com.