After the Supreme Court's recent ruling in two Michigan affirmative action cases, Gratz and Grutter, legal scholars predicted that a flurry of suits would seek to round out the Court's somewhat confusing jurisprudence on this topic. One of these cases, Doe v. Kamehameha, took its first step toward the high court this week, where most observers-including the judge in the case - predict it is likely to end up. The case concerns a private school supported by the Bishop Trust, a charitable trust founded in the 1880s by the last direct descendant of King Kamehameha I, with the goal of supporting and cultivating native Hawaiian culture. Two non-Hawaiian students who were denied admission to the school because of its policy of barring non-natives sued for racial discrimination. A federal judge dismissed the boys' claim on grounds that the remedial education provided by the school, expressly for the purpose of raising the educational and economic prospects of native Hawaiians, trumps longstanding case law forbidding racial discrimination in private education. The case now goes to a federal appeals court; you can read the judge's full decision at http://gohawaii.about.com/library/weekly/bl_doe_vs_kamehameha.htm.
"Kamehameha Schools win admissions case," by David Waitte, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, November 18, 2003