A lawsuit targeting Na‘i Aupuni and its nation- building campaign will move forward even after last week’s conclusion of the Native Hawaiian convention and its creation of a constitution.
Kelii Akina, president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said Monday that the same U.S. constitutional concerns about a racially based election of convention delegates still apply to the racially exclusive Hawaiian nation described in the governing document.
In addition, plans to hold a racially exclusive ratification vote underscore the importance of the lawsuit, Akina said.
“There are far-reaching implications of this document that should be a concern for all citizens of Hawaii and Native Hawaiians,” he said.
A constitution to establish a Hawaiian nation was adopted by more than 100 participants at the convention, or aha, held over four weeks in February at the Royal Hawaiian Golf Course in Maunawili.
Akina is one of six people who sued the state last year for running an illegal, race-based election. Although the suit was rejected by the U.S. District Court in October, it was appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where it now awaits trial.
A bid to block the delegate election was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but a potentially lengthy fight over the court’s injunction was averted when the Na‘i Aupuni board dropped the balloting and invited all candidates to join the aha.
The plaintiff’s legal team, which includes the conservative Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Watch, argued in a reply to the court last month that the cancellation of the delegate election does not make the case moot because the next steps include a ratification vote that is also racially restricted.
Na‘i Aupuni and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs had argued that the outcome of the convention was speculative.
“Now they’ve gone full steam ahead and passed a governing document,” Akina said. “This development should help convince the 9th Circuit of what we’ve said all along: The case is not moot. It doesn’t go away just because they canceled the previous election.”
Na‘i Aupuni officials were unavailable for comment Monday, a spokesman said.
Under the constitution adopted Friday, citizens of the nation are any descendants of the indigenous people who lived in Hawaii prior to 1778, or Western contact.
Akina said there are several alarming provisions of the aha’s document.
“These include a virtually limitless land grab at all land, air, water and mineral rights in Hawaii as well as a claim to be able to enter into treaties with foreign powers,” he said.
