Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 4, 1 April 1999 — COURTS From page 1 [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COURTS From page 1

United States citizen the right to vote on the basis of "race, color, or previous eondition of servitude." The New York

Times' legal specialist Linda Greenhouse and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported 01son has represented to the Supreme Court that OHA elections, as currently structured, constitute "a broad and patently offensive regime of racially segregated voting in the state of Hawai'i." THE CASE

In upholding the law restricting participation in OHA elections to registered voters of Hawaiian ancestry, the Ninth Circuit reasoned, 'The franchise for choosing tmstees in special elections may be hmited to Hawaiians, because Hawaiians are the only group with a stake in the tmst and the funds that OHA frustees administer." The court also cited a 1973 case, Salyer Land Co. vs. Tulare Lake District, originally brought as a challenge to a California law providing for an eleehon in whieh only property owners were allowed to vote for the

management of water storage districts. The Supreme ^

Court upheld the law stmctur-

ing these ,

elections based on the property owners' stake in the matter. Of eoneem, however, is the United States Supreme Court's standard of "strict scmtiny," appheahle to preferences it considers based on race or ethnicity. In recent cases, the court has tended to mle that the laws allowine for

such preferences have not measured up to this tough standard, and has invahdated them. Nonetheless, in a press conference held just after the news of Rice reached Hawai'i, OHA Chairperson Rowena Akana said she was hopeful the high court would let stand the previous Rice decisions by

uistnct juage uavia Ezra and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. "I will do what I ean to assist our attomey general to ensure that we never allow the eloek to be tumed back to a time when rights of the minority, indigenous people were trampled under foot by the majority," she said. ■

uThe Ninth Circuit reasoned, 4The franchise for choosing trustees in special elections may be limited to Hawaiians, because Hawaiians are the only group wilh a stake in the tiiist and the funds that OHA trustees administer.