DAY v. APOLIONA
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in DAY v. APOLIONA, No. 06-16625, a civil rights appeal. The panel consisted of David R. Thompson, Marsha S. Berzon, and Richard C. Tallman, Circuit Judges.
BERZON, Circuit Judge:
The Hawaii Admission Act, Pub. L. No. 86-3, 73 Stat. 4 (1959) (”Admission Act”) granted Hawaii title to most of the federal government’s public land within the state, id. at § 5(b)-(e), 73 Stat. at 5-6, and required the state to hold that land and profits from it in “public trust” for five purposes, id. at § 5(f), 73 Stat. at 6. One such purpose is “for the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians.” Id. The other purposes — for public schools, development of farm and home ownership, public improvements, and the provision of land for public use — are not limited to Native Hawaiians. Id. The plaintiffs in this case, whom we call “Day” after the first-named of them, are Native Hawaiians, defined under federal law as “descendant[s] of not less than one-half part of the blood of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778.” Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, Pub. L. No. 67-34, 42 Stat. 108 (1921) (”HHCA”); see generally Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495, 507 (2000). Based on the Admission Act. . .