There’s been hand-wringing from the political left about a constitutional crisis if Donald Trump ever refuses to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling he doesn’t like.

Hawaii’s liberal Supreme Court did essentially that in thumbing its nose at the U.S. high court in a cheeky gun control ruling, and has gotten away with it — so far — without sign of constitutional collapse.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative 6-3 majority sided with unfettered gun rights in a 2022 case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, by asserting for the first time a person’s Second Amendment right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.

Justices led by Clarence Thomas instructed lower courts to strike down gun restrictions not consistent with its permissive interpretation of the right to carry.

The Hawaii court declined to comply in upholding local charges against Christopher Wilson of Maui for carrying an unlicensed firearm while hiking, violating state licensing laws for handguns outside the home.

The state Supreme Court opinion, written by Justice Todd Eddins, used creative legal logic, citing the “spirit of aloha” in an unusual broadside attack against the U.S. high court’s Bruen ruling.

“The spirit of aloha clashes with a federally mandated lifestyle that lets citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities,” the Hawaii court held in support of Hawaii’s stiff firearm restrictions.

The unanimous Hawaii ruling accused conservative U.S. justices of passing off their “personal values and ideas about the very old days” as true history, alleging that their Bruen decision “cherry-picks historical evidence,” then “shrinks, alters, and discards historical facts that don’t fit.”

The U.S. high court unanimously declined last week to consider Wilson’s appeal on the procedural ground that he appealed to federal courts too early in the process.

But Thomas, Bruen’s author, clearly took offense in a statement with Justice Samuel Alito, declaring Hawaii justices “failed to give the Second Amendment its due regard” and reduced it to a “second-class right.” They vowed there’d be another day to smack down the Hawaii court’s “error” as the case plays out.

I agree with the sentiments of Hawaii justices on guns, but our legal system gives the U.S. Supreme Court the last word. Our justices know full well the U.S. Constitution isn’t overridden by the aloha spirit — whatever that means out of the mouths of lawyers.

Eddins’ artful disquisition was an entertaining read, but is it our state Supreme Court’s job to write protests or to abide by the rule of law set by the nation’s highest court, as we demand of Donald Trump?

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.