§ 25-2121.Conduct constituting contempt; powers of court of record to punish.

Section 25-2121 is the source of a Nebraska court of record’s contempt power. It treats contempt as a matter the court can punish as for a criminal offense, by fine, by imprisonment, or by both, rather than leaving disruptive or defiant conduct to some other remedy.

The section lists the conduct that qualifies. It covers disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior directed at the court or its officers in the court’s presence; any breach of the peace, noise, or disturbance that interrupts the court’s proceedings; willful disobedience of or resistance to the court’s lawful process or orders; any willful attempt to obstruct proceedings or hinder the administration of justice in a pending matter; and a witness’s contumacious refusal to be sworn or affirmed, or, once sworn or affirmed, refusal to answer a legal and proper question.

Together, these categories give a court the tools to keep order in the courtroom, enforce its own lawful directives, and compel witnesses to answer truthfully, all under a single contempt power rather than a patchwork of separate remedies.