Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Supreme Court Upholds Hawaii Redistricting Plan
By Robert Thomas @ 11:06 AM :: 5842 Views :: Military, Office of Elections

Supreme Court Upholds Hawaii Redistricting Plan

by Robert Thomas, InverseCondemnation, January 21, 2014 

Our Latin cousins warned us long ago homo sapiens non urinat in ventum ("a wise man does not pee into the wind") but such wisdom doesn't prevent us from trying at times to buck the conventional thinking. Because sometimes, you don't know which way the wind is blowing until you go outside and actually feel the breeze.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court told us. In a one-line order, the Court affirmed the three-judge U.S. District Court's ruling that the 2012 Hawaii Reapportionment Plan, which excluded active duty military, military families, and students who do not pay resident tuition from the population basis, did not fall short of Equal Protection's requirements. See also SCOTUSblog's "Hawaii Redistricting Upheld." The 2012 Plan treats these classes as residents who have not exhibited the intent to remain in Hawaii "permanently." The Court also affirmed the 2012 Plan's very large (44% and 21%) deviations from population equality.

Disclosure: we represent the challengers to the Plan.

This was always an uphill (upwind?) challenge because in Burns v. Richardson, 384 U.S. 73 (1966), the Court seemed to conclude that it was purely a political question about who Hawaii must include within its definition of "population," and it could thus exclude the military as "transients." What this means presently is that these exclusions will not be touched by the courts, at least until the next reapportionment cycle, and that the questions presented by the case will need to be debated resolved in the political arena and elsewhere, if at all.

Things are evolving, and Hawaii's long-standing treatment of military and military families as outlanders is arcing towards inclusion. Which seems only fair, since Hawaii gladly accepts the massive benefits their presence brings: $18 billion per year to the Hawaii economy, and the additional population for a second seat in Congress (everyone is counted for purposes of Congressional apportionment). The military who are stationed in Hawaii have become more integrated into the community than in the days of Burns, when most could realistically be treated as transients. Something also tells us by the time the next reapportionment process rolls around, the military won't so readily surrender to the state data about the troops and their families (data it should have never turned over), and that if Hawaii wants to continue to exclude these groups of Census-counted residents, it will need to commission its own survey asking these people about their residency intentions (like Kansas does).

But for now, the Court's order ends the case.

---30---

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF HAWAII’S REAPPORTIONMENT PLAN

News Release from Hawaii Attorney General January 21, 2014 

HONOLULU – Today, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Reapportionment Plan issued by the 2011 Reapportionment Commission in 2012. The Reapportionment Plan provided that non-permanent residents would be excluded from the population base to be used for drawing state legislative districts and for state legislative districts to be completely contained within a single county.  

Attorney General David M. Louie said that “this decision is a complete and timely victory for the State of Hawaii. By summarily affirming the District Court’s decision, the United States Supreme Court has validated the Reapportionment Plan, a plan that reflects the understanding that Hawaii’s Constitution requires that the legislative districts respect the integrity of each island’s history, culture and concerns.”  

The constitutionality of the Reapportionment Plan was challenged in federal court in Kostick v. Nago, Civ. No. 12-00184. In Kostick, the plaintiffs argued that the Hawaii State Constitution violated the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution with respect to the population base and drawing of legislative district lines. In July 2013 a three-judge panel for the United States District Court for the State of Hawaii upheld the Reapportionment Plan, stating that the plan did not violate the United States Constitution.  Plaintiffs appealed this decision directly to the United States Supreme Court; in its response to the plaintiffs’ appeal, the State of Hawaii asked the Supreme Court to affirm the decision of the District Court. On January 21, 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court granted the State of Hawaii’s Motion to Summarily Affirm the decision of the District Court.

# # #

SA: Voter district boundaries remain in place after ruling

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT