'Aloha!' Akaka Bill
Engage Vol 7, issue 2, 2006
3 Pages Posted: 31 Dec 2016 Last revised: 1 Jan 2017
Date Written: October 1, 2006
Abstract
The proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2006 (known as the "Akaka Bill") is a response to the Supreme Court's decision in Rice v. Cayetano. That case decided that a Hawaii law that allowed only ethnic Hawaiians to vote for trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a state agency, was a violation of the 15th Amendment, which prohibits race discrimination in voting rights. The court distinguished ethnic Hawaiians from Indian tribe, which have semi-sovereign status. The Akaka bill attempts to organize ethnic Hawaiians into tribe. This essay argues that the act of transforming a racial group into a separate sovereignty is itself a violation of the Constitution.
Keywords: Native Hawaiians, Indian law, Hawaii, Native Americans, Akaka bill, Fifteenth Amendment, equal protection, race, ethnicity, Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act
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