Real Estate & Property Law

Ceded Lands Case Debate - Feb. 12, 2009 - U Hawaii Law School

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

Mark your calendars for Thursday, February 12, 2009. That's the date the Hawaii Federalist Society is sponsoring a debate on the ceded lands case, Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, No. 07-1372 (cert. granted Oct. 1, 2008),. The case is scheduled for oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court on February 25, 2009. [Disclosure: we filed an amicus brief in the case, supporting the State's argument.]

The debate is titled Hawaii v. OHA Debate - Ilya Shapiro vs. Carl Christensen - Did the Hawaii Supreme Court rewrite the terms by which Hawaii became the 50th state?

Details: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 12:45 - 2:00 pm; Classroom 2, U. Hawaii Law School, 2515 Dole Street, Honolulu. The event is open to the public, but if you are not a student at the U.H. Law School, please RSVP not later than February 10, 2009 by email to loren.tilley@gmail.com. A summary of the debate:

Hawaii?s Race Case?: Hawaii v. OHA

The Hawaii Supreme Court blocked the sale of 1.2 million acres of land (29 percent of the state's total area) based on a joint resolution that Congress passed in 1993 to apologize for the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This issue is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Was it correct, or did the Hawaii Supreme Court rewrite the terms by which Hawaii became the 50th state?

Further, was the Apology Resolution itself based on a slanted view of history, the propagation of which may yet lead to the creation of race-based state government via the Akaka Bill?

This event will feature a debate by two renowned legal experts. Ilya Shapiro is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies and Editor-in-Chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. He has written and debated on several Hawaii-focused topics.

Carl Christensen holds an appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii. Prior to accepting his current position, Professor Christensen served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and as Staff Attorney with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation.

For more about the ceded lands case, including the Hawaii Supreme Court decision under review and all of the merits and amicus briefs, visit our ceded lands page.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on January 21, 2009 (boomark / email).