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 The legal action comes a week after the Nebraska Supreme Court
ruled in support of the pipeline, which aims to take Canadian oil to
refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast and has become a point of
contention between the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress and the
Obama administration.
The Nebraskans, who filed suits in York and Holt counties, alleged
that TransCanada Corp used the state law to threaten eminent domain
against their land this month, according to court filings published
online by the Domina Law Group representing the landowners.
The suits call for an injunction against the state law, which would
keep TransCanada from building on the land.
"We are committed to getting an answer to the question: is the
current Nebraska law constitutional or not under our State
structure," attorney Dave Domina said in a statement.
 TransCanada could not be immediately reached for comment, but
company spokesman Mark Cooper told Bloomberg that the filing was not
a surprise.
"We recognize that some people will continue to oppose this project
no matter what process is followed in order to put up roadblocks. We
accept that," Cooper told Bloomberg.
The Nebraska Supreme Court said last Friday that it was divided and
could not reach a substantive decision on the state law, leaving the
legislation in place by default.
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Republicans are pushing for the pipeline, a project that they say
will create jobs and provide energy security for the United States.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill for the
pipeline and the Senate is scheduled to vote on it this month,
despite the threat of veto from President Barack Obama, who has
questioned how beneficial it will be for the country.
The U.S. State Department told other federal agencies on Friday
that it needs to hear their views on the pipeline by Feb. 2 as
officials conclude their assessment of the project.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Pravin
Char)
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