The school is asking for a larger panel of 11 judges from the 9th Circuit to rehear the case that led to the Aug. 2 decision by a three-member panel in favor of an unnamed public high school senior who was denied admission because he is not Native Hawaiian.

In the request, the school lawyers said the 2-1 decision is "unprecedented." The lawyers said "it is the first in our nation's history to invalidate a remedial education policy by a private school for the benefits of any minority group, much less an indigenous people."

The school said the judges from the 9th Circuit have until Sept. 13 to call for a vote or to request an opinion from the original three-judge panel on whether to rehear the case. Under the appeals court rules, any judge who calls for a vote would lead to a polling of all active judges. If a majority votes for a rehearing, 11 judges will be selected at random to sit on the panel.

Any enforcement of the 2-1 ruling is postponed pending the outcome of the rehearing request.

Attorney General Mark Bennett today also submitted court papers in support of the school's request. The office urges the court to rehear the case because it raises an issue of "exceptional importance."

The three-panel's decision caused an uproar among school supporters who defend the admissions policy as a way of addressing the socioeconomic and educational disadvantages facing Native Hawaiians. But the 2-1 decision held that the policy amounts to an absolute ban on non-Native Hawaiian students and violates civil rights laws covering private institutions.

The $6 billion Kamehameha Schools was established by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The school operates the flagship Kapalama campus and two other schools on Maui and the Big Island.

Classes have already started for the school year at Kamehameha campuses, but the boy's lawyer, Eric Grant, hopes the appeals court will reject the rehearing request and send the case back to the U.S. District Court in Hawai'i to allow his client to enroll early enough to complete his final year of high school.

School officials, however, have vowed to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.