Ninth Circuit Rules In Favor of Kamehameha Schools!

All praise and glory to Ke Akua, for He has done marvelous things!

I write this morning with wonderful news. The Ninth Circuit released its ruling just a few hours ago in the Doe vs. Kamehameha lawsuit. Justice Graber (who wrote the dissent in the original 8/2/05 ruling for the Ninth Circuit) wrote a wonderful majority opinion, in which she was joined by 7 other justices of the en banc panel. Four dissenting opinions were authored by Justices Bybee, Rymer, Kleinfeld and Kozinski, and they were joined by Justices O'Scannlain, Tallman and Callahan.

In other words, the ruling was 8 to 7 in favor of upholding Kamehameha Schools' admissions policy.

The majority opinion found that because the Schools' are a "wholly private K-12 educational establishment, whose preferential admissions policy is designed to counteract the significant, current educational deficits of Native Hawaiian children in Hawai'i," and because of overwhelming evidence that Congress itself has enacted laws recognizing its unique trust relationship with Native Hawawaiians, THE ADMISSIONS POLICY IS JUSTIFIED AND VALID.

Is the battle pau? Well....John Doe's attorneys have previously vowed to "take this all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary," so please continue to pule and stay informed on this important lawsuit.

But for today (at least).....let's kanikapila!!!! Mahalo Ke Akua ! Mahalo everyone for your support, pule and kokua!!!

Many blessings of Ke Akua (truly),
Noelani