Posted on: Sunday, October 17, 2004

Kamehameha set to test admissions case in federal appeal

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Calling it the "most important legal challenge in its history," officials at Kamehameha Schools said yesterday the school is prepared to defend its right to grant admissions preferences to Hawaiian applicants at a hearing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in November.

At the Nov. 4 hearing at the University of Hawai'i, a three-judge appeals court panel will hear oral arguments in Doe v. Kamehameha Schools.

A year ago in November, U.S. District Judge Alan Kay ruled that the school's policy of giving preference to student applicants who have at least some Hawaiian blood did not violate a section of federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in contractual matters.

The Kamehameha Schools case is one of two pivotal lawsuits affecting Native Hawaiians being heard by the appeals court in November. The other is a lawsuit that claims the use of state taxpayer money for programs benefiting only Native Hawaiians is unconstitutional.

California attorney Eric Grant, along with local lawyer John Goemans, challenged the admission policy, arguing that allowing a Hawaiians-preferred policy would be no different than allowing an all-white school to bar the admission of nonwhite students.

Judge Kay disagreed, saying the Kamehameha case involved a set of "exceptionally unique circumstances."

Should Kamehameha not prevail in its appeal, Nainoa Thompson, chairman of the board of trustees, said the school would appeal — all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

Goemans said yesterday that he doubted the country's highest court would hear the admissions case should Kamehameha lose, because it already has determined that state and federal programs specific to Native Hawaiians are presumed unconstitutional.