About 300 people converged on the state Capitol yesterday and urged the Lingle administration to back off its legal claim that the state has the right to sell ceded lands.

In a case that places the state against the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Gov. Linda Lingle and her administration are appealing a unanimous ruling by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in January that the state cannot sell or otherwise transfer ceded lands until Native Hawaiian claims against the land holds were resolved.

"The administration's decision to appeal has the potential to adversely impact the way the people of Hawai'i deal with issues affecting Native Hawaiians locally," the groups of Native Hawaiian supporters said in a statement. "A U.S. Supreme Court decision threatens what our state Legislature and state courts have already decided — Native Hawaiians have a valid unsettled claim to ceded lands. ... The Lingle administration's appeal threatens the future of the Hawaiian community and is in direct conflict with the administration's reported support for the Native Hawaiian community."

The state received approximately 1.2 million acres of former Hawaiian government land — sometimes called ceded lands — as part of Hawai'i's Admission Act in 1959.

Nearly all of the state's lands are among the ceded lands, Lingle said yesterday, including much of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and UH-Hilo, many public schools, much of Honolulu International Airport and other public buildings such as Hilo Hospital.

Her administration has work- ed harder than any others for Hawaiian rights and its efforts to get Hawaiians onto Hawaiian homestead land is "unparalleled by any previous administration," Lingle said.

"Anyone who categorizes our taking this case to the Supreme Court as being against Hawaiian rights is simply misrepresenting our position," she said.

Hawai'i has been joined by 29 states in pushing the appeal to the Supreme Court.

Other than the original 13 colonies, Maine, Texas and West Virginia, "all the states of the union received their land from the United States as part of an admission act or a resolution of admission," Attorney General Mark Bennett said yesterday.

But Native Hawaiians worry that the case could have unintended consequences if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to use it to end preferential government programs for Hawaiians such as low-cost homes and low-interest loans.

It also could derail pending federal legislation that would give Hawaiians autonomy rights similar to those for American Indians, and perhaps hand over some of these lands to them.

But Lingle argues the state has a right to handle its property for the benefit of all residents, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian alike.

The protesters waved signs saying "Moratorium now! Preserve our lands!" and "Hawaii is a sovereign nation occupied by America." They chanted "impeach Lingle, impeach Lingle" and wore shirts saying, "Justice for Hawaiians."

"These are stolen lands, we're clear on that," Native Hawaiian practitioner Andre Perez said to the crowd. "I want my land back. I want my country back."