United States Ninth Circuit

On remand from the Supreme Court of a suit against Hawaiian agencies, state officers, and the U.S. alleging that various state programs preferentially treat persons of Hawaiian ancestry in violation of the constitution, federal law, and the terms of a public land trust, dismissal of the suit is affirmed in part and reversed in part and remanded, where: 1) plaintiffs lack standing to sue the federal government; 2) plaintiffs, as state taxpayers, lack standing to bring a suit claiming that certain programs that are funded by state tax revenue violate Equal Protection; and 3) if any plaintiffs are able to establish standing on remand, their challenge to the appropriation of tax revenue to an agency does not raise a nonjusticiable political question.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/09/2007
• Published 02/09/2007

Judges

• BYBEE, Circuit Judge., Before MELVIN BRUNETTI, SUSAN P. GRABER, and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• H. William Burgess, Honolulu, HI, for the plaintiffs-appellants., Le'a Malia Kanehe, Native Hawaiian LegalCorp., Honolulu, HI, for the amici curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Sherry P. Broder, Honolulu, HI;  Girard D. Lau, Charleen M. Aina, Office of the Attorney General of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI;  Jon M. Van Dyke, William S. RichardsonSchool of Law, Honolulu, HI;  Aaron P. Avila, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.;  Thomas A. Helper, Office of the U.S. Attorney, Honolulu, HI, for the defendants-appellees., Walter R. Schoettle, Honolulu, HI;  Robert Klein, Honolulu, HI;  Philip W. Miyoshi, McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP, Honolulu, HI, for the intervenors-appellees.