Monday, March 18, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Thursday, June 7, 2012
DHHL Tax Case: Final Brief in Corboy v Louie
By Robert Thomas @ 4:10 PM :: 5947 Views :: Energy, Environment

Final Brief In Case Challenging Hawaiian Homes Property Tax Exemption As Racial Discrimination: SG's Assertion That HAWSCT Decision Was One Of State Law "Dead Wrong."

by Robert Thomas, InverseCondemnation

Here is the final brief (Petitioner's response to the SG's invitation amicus) in Corboy v. Louie, No. 11-336 (cert. petition filed Sep. 15, 2011), the case asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court's dismissal of a challenge to the property tax exemptions conferred on lessees of Hawaiian Homesteads. The petitioners claim this is an unconstitutional race-based classification, but the Hawaii Supreme Court dismissed for lack of standing (the petitioners had not applied for a Hawaiian Homestead lease).

The case was originally scheduled for the Court's conference on December 12, 2011, but the Court postponed consideration of the case and invited the Obama Administration to weigh in with a brief, because the petition draws into question the constitutionality of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and the constitutionality of a part of the Hawaii Admission Act. The SG's brief asserted that the Hawaii Supreme Court decided the standing issue as a matter of state law, and thus was grounded in "independent and adequate" state law, meaning that it is immune from Supreme Court review under Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (1983). The petitioners' brief responds:

A. The Solicitor General’s assertion that the decision below rests on an independent and adequate state ground is dead wrong. Although he repeats the Hawaii Supreme Court’s claim that its decision rested on state law (U.S. Br. 9-11), saying it is so does not make it so.

1. As we have explained (Pet. 20-22), this Court routinely reviews decisions in which a purported state-law reason for declaring a case nonjusticiable is intertwined with the merits of the underlying federal question. The Solicitor General does not dispute that fact. Indeed, he never really grapples with the fact that the ostensible state-law basis of the decision below is inextricably bound up in whether the native Hawaiian classification is permissible.

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that petitioners could not challenge the racially discriminatory taxation scheme because they did not also seek to participate in the racially discriminatory leasehold program. But that is just an indirect way of saying that use of a transparent proxy for race (lessee status) is permissible and that the only potentially cognizable constitutional injury is the additional and separate leasehold benefit that is explicitly conditioned on an applicant’s race.

Br. at 1-2 (emphasis original).

Here is the Court's docket entry. The case is now scheduled for the Court's June 21, 2012 conference. Stay tuned.

Supplemental Brief for Petitioners, Corboy v. Louie, No. 11-336

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