Posted on: Thursday, March 29, 2001

Hawaiian-only legal case may be delayed

By Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writer

A new development in Patrick Barrett's challenge to state-backed Hawaiian entitlements could postpone hearings in his case for at least another month.

Meanwhile, the state has agreed to pay a little more than $1 million to U.S. solicitor general nominee Theodore Olson and his Washington, D.C., law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, to settle their legal fees in the Rice v. Cayetano case.

The firm represented Big Island cattle rancher Harold "Freddy" Rice in his successful challenge to the Hawaiian-only elections of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. His lawyers asked for $2.3 million and appealed an award for $935,000, said Deputy Attorney General Girard Lau.

In the latest challenge to Hawaiian-only programs, lawyers for Barrett yesterday agreed to hold off seeking a preliminary injunction to suspend operations at OHA and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands until the question of Barrett's legal standing is resolved.

Barrett, 53, of Mo'ili'ili, is seeking to abolish a state constitutional amendment that created OHA, adopted the Hawaiian Home Lands program and provided for native gathering rights on private property. He contends such benefits are racially discriminatory.

In a motion filed last week in federal court, OHA attorney Sherry Broder argued that Barrett does not meet the test of legal standing because he has failed to demonstrate injury. While Barrett applied for a loan from the Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan fund, Broder said, he did not complete the application process.

At a status conference yesterday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra phoned in a proposal to take the May 27 hearing on Barrett's preliminary injunction motion off the calendar for now so that the judge could first address the legal standing question.