Updated at 11:01 a.m., Tuesday, December 5, 2006
State's attorney general lauds Schools decision
Advertiser Staff
State Attorney General Mark Bennett said of today's decision in the case of Doe v. Kamehameha Schools:"I think the majority opinion is correct on both grounds that it ruled," Bennett said.
Bennett said Congress could not specifically provide benefits to Kamehameha Schools for its admissions policy and at the same time enact a statute "that bars that same admissions policy."
Second, he said, "even if that weren't true, there is nothing about having one school in one state that has lands that were contributed in trust by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to benefit Native Hawaiians for educational purposes that violated the civil rights law and I believe the 9th Circuit was clearly correct in ruling that it didn't violate the civil rights law."
Bennett also said that the dissenting judges "appeared to recognize the injustice or the absurdity of having a civil rights law bar one private school in one state providing educational benefits for Natives Hawaiians. But they felt bound by the current state of the law even if they disagreed with it."
