Ninth Circuit En Banc Sides with Kamehameha Schools

You can find the opinion here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/53333A1C2A376D138825723B005F9EE5/$file/0415044.pdf?openelement

the dissents are legally interesting, but the short of it is that the court found in favor of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate and the case now has only one more place to go: United States Supreme Court (USSC). Since the USSC doesn't hear many cases, it's great the appeals court opinion sided with KS. However since the court is fairly conservative now, particularly on social issues, if it is accepted by the courts, it's likely to be a very difficult fight.

en banc hearing today

Today is the 20'th of June. Today, the 9'th Circuit Court reheard the Doe v. Kamehameha case with a full panel of judges. Here's to hoping the 9'th Circuit recognizes the special circumstances. Either win or lose, the case will head to the Supreme Court. Given the current makeup of the court, this probably doesn't bode well for the Kamehameha Schools. But our prayers are with the Schools and the Estate.

As the results of the hearing are released, more will be posed here.

en banc granted

News was released yesterday that the 9'th Circuit has granted en banc review in the Doe case. No date is currently set for the re-hearing. We will provide more information once more becomes available.

After a long break...some news

There's no word yet from the 9'th Circuit on the En Banc hearing request by KS. When that news comes down I will post it.

In the mean time, Harvard Law Review, in its December issue, has a write up about the Doe v. Kamehameha case. From a quick read through it appears as though the people at Harvard side with KS, or at least believe that the Court erred in its decision.

The full article can be found online at http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/119/Dec05/Recent_Cases/Doe_v_Kamehameha.pdf Full warning, the link is to a PDF file. You'll need Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to view the file. I would suggest you right-click the link and select "Save-as" and store it locally on your computer.

Ho‘ike Akea Information Session

This Friday 9 Sept. 2005 we have our first Ho‘ike Akea Public Information session. It will be held from 7PM to 830PM with some extra time at the end if we run over. It will be held at the Princess Ruth Ke‘elikolani Auditorium on the Kamehameha Kapalama Campus. This Public Information session is reserved for KS Alumni, Students, Faculty and Staff and their immediate families and non-KS affiliated guests invited by the ‘Ōlelo A‘o Board. For questions/comments contact Kekoa McClellan, ‘Ōlelo A‘o Board chair at: citycloud_01@yahoo.com or 808-393-7937.

The purpose of the information session is to make the public aware of the work that ‘Ōlelo A‘o has done so far and to offer an opportunity for feedback and contribution. The session will be a short informative presentation with some time afterwards to address questions and concerns and an opportunity for the audience to voice their opinions/suggestions/criticisms. Subsequent to the forum all of the data collected will be compiled in a presentation to the Bishop Estate Trustees for their review and consideration.

Please also note that there is a student dance that evening which runs concurrently in the lower campus gymnasium.

UPDATE: We hope to have a post on some of the input from the session up shortly. We are planning to hold another session soon and depending on the scheduling it may make more sense to combine the input into a single release but we hope to have some information up and available in a short time.

CRT Session Release

In our CRT on 30 Aug. 2005 we threshed out a few concepts that are at the heart of the issue surrounding Kamehameha Schools. We’d like to take an opportunity to outline the four core concepts. Keep in mind, these ideas are meant to be developed into workable plans in upcoming sessions, so this is NOT a full set of recommendations and actions, but is rather the framework upon which we hope to build those recommendations. I had originally started with more detail, but on consideration, we all agreed that it would be better to be broader at this point in time while we discuss goals, plans and, particular milestones we hope to achieve in those plans.

Identity
Our first and foremost priority has to be connecting Hawaiians with their identity as Hawaiians. There is a big issue in the news lately about “identity theft” and how much it can damage you. The Hawaiian identity was, for a very long time, stolen. And it did fundamental damage to Hawaiians. We lost control over who we are, of our records and our history. Many Hawaiians decided it was in their best interest not to identify with being Hawaiian, this connection needs to be restored. It has to be desirable to embrace being Hawaiian and develop and deep interest in exploring and supporting that identity.

Nerve
The current legal actions constitute a larger attack that all Hawaiians, whether touched by Kamehameha or not, should seek to defend against. We have to develop the nerve to stand up for what we believe in and develop the commitment to stand up for our causes. We have to steel ourselves against further theft of the Hawaiian Identity.

Ownership
In order to defend our Hawaiian identity we have to take ownership of that identity. The issues around Kamehameha or around OHA or around DHHL are not isolated. They impact all Hawaiians. This ownership over Hawaiian resources must be something that Hawaiians desire to restore and maintain. These are issues that must be addressed by all members of the Hawaiian community.

Awareness
One further key idea to come out of the CRT was the realization that the schools must do more to promote awareness on multiple levels. The public needs to be made aware of what the School is doing and the School needs to be made aware of what the public is thinking. In general it is the exchange of ideas and information that is critical to survival.

Articles to consider:

I would first like to apologize for not yet posting results from our CRT session on 31 Aug. I've started to draft a post and haven't yet finished it. I will do so shortly and have it up as soon as possible. In the mean time, I would like to direct your attention to two blog posts. The first here was written on 29 Aug. and the second here was written on 30 Aug. They were both written by Gail Heriot. It should be noted that Gail is also an OpEd writer for the Wall Street Journal and it should be expected that she would gloss over the subtleties of the cases and laws. While she writes eloquently, the writing lacks a fundamental understanding of the nuances of the cases and legislative movements surrounding Hawaiian rights groups and organizations.

While I disagree in almost every respect to her opinion, she raises two important questions. First, in the 30 Aug post, she asks "Who are today's Native Hawaiians?" That's an important question to ask because the identity of Hawaiians and definition of what it means to be Hawaiian were stolen along with the Kingdom. Answering that question is much more difficult than I believe Gail realizes and much more difficult than can be accomplished without a deeper respect for the culture and history of Hawaii, something I fear is lacking both in Hawaii and on the mainland.

The second significant question she raises is of what long term effect legislative movements such as the Akaka Bill or cases such as Doe v. Kamehameha would have on the Hawaiian (note I consciously leave off the adjective Native here) people. If only such questions had been raised before the US supported the overthrow of a legitimate government and the annexation of its territory under duress. We cannot turn back time and undue past wrongs. What can be done is some level of restorative action. The difficult problem, one not addressed by Gail and really not addressed by many people, is one of determining a metric for success. When do we know that OHA or KSBE has done enough and met its goal of uplifting the Hawaiian people? How can we determine if we are successful if we do now know what success is? That I fear is missing from the conversation.

I'll post the results from the CRT as soon as I get them done. In the mean time, mull this over.

Oral Arguments in MP3 Format

*Update: The link hasn't been working for the past day or so as my internet connection has been down. It is now restored. Apologies to anyone who tried the link and found it broken. I'll keep it working as long as my ISP does. -reid

You can find the oral arguments of the case in front of the 3 judge panel online in WMA format (Windows Media Audio) at the Ninth Circuit Court's Website. It's for case number 04-15044.wma

I've been told some people don't like the WMA format or want to put the file onto an MP3 player such as an iPod to listen to rather than on a computer. You can download an MP3 I converted from the original WMA file at http://rpalm.servehttp.com/doevks

I should note that the WMA file is much smaller, about 1/3 the size but some people prefer MP3 so cheers.