Doe Ex Rel. Doe v. Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate

295 F. Supp. 2d 1141, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23434, 2003 WL 23104167
CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedDecember 8, 2003
DocketCIV. 03-00316 ACK/LE
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 295 F. Supp. 2d 1141 (Doe Ex Rel. Doe v. Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe Ex Rel. Doe v. Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, 295 F. Supp. 2d 1141, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23434, 2003 WL 23104167 (D. Haw. 2003).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT WITH RESPECT TO DECLARATORY AND INJUNC-TIVE RELIEF AND GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ COUNTER-MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

KAY, District Judge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SYNOPSIS 1145

*1145 BACKGROUND.1147

I. Factual Background.1147

A. The Native Hawaiians.1148

B. The end of the Hawaiian Monarchy.1149

C. The effect of western influence on the Native Hawaiians.1150

D. Congressional recognition of the need for reconciliation.1151

E. Kamehameha Schools and its admissions policy.1154

II.Factual Background of the Complaint.1157

III.Procedural Background.1158

STANDARD.1158

DISCUSSION .1159

I.The Limited Issue Before the Court.1160

II. Section 1981 Permits Justifiable Race-Conscious Policies.1164

III. Kamehameha Schools’ Admissions Policy Comprises a Valid Race-Conscious

Remedial Plan.1165

IV. Section 1981 Should be Read Harmoniously with Congressional Policy.1172

CONCLUSION.1174

SYNOPSIS

Before the Court is a case involving exceptionally unique historical circumstances. It concerns the Kamehameha Schools, which was founded under a “charitable testamentary Trust established by the last direct descendant of Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who left her property in trust for a school dedicated to the education and upbringing of Native Hawaiians.” Burgert v. Lokelani Bernice Pauahi Bishop Trust, 200 F.3d 661, 663 (9th Cir.2000). Kamehameha Schools is a private entity; it receives no state or federal funding. From a historical perspective, the Kamehameha Schools was established before Hawaii became a part of the United States.

Plaintiff John Doe, a non-Native Hawaiian minor, asserts that he was denied admission to Kamehameha Schools because of his race. He therefore claims that Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy, which grants a preference to children of Native Hawaiian ancestry, the indigenous people of Hawaii, violates 42 United States Code Section 1981. 1

Defendants, however, argue that the admissions policy comprises a valid, race-conscious remedial affirmative action plan, and thus serves a legitimate purpose. They argue that the policy therefore does not violate § 1981. 2

*1146 The parties agree that disposition by summary judgment is appropriate, and also agree that the limited issue before the Court is whether Kamehameha Schools has a “legitimate justification” for its admissions policy. The Court notes that Plaintiff does not dispute any of the facts submitted by Defendants.

No reported case addresses whether § 1981 permits the remedial use of race by a private school that receives no federal funding, especially one involving an educational preference for descendants of an indigenous people who have been disadvantaged by past history. The parties agree this is a case of first impression.

In Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 186, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 105 L.Ed.2d 132 (1989), the Supreme Court held that claims of racial discrimination under § 1981 are subject to the same scheme of proof as applicable to Title VII cases. The Title VII framework consists of a two-step test that first looks to whether the use of race is supported by legitimate justification and then considers whether the use of race is reasonably related to that justification. The Title VII standard is not a fixed and rigid formula but rather a flexible one.

The Court finds that Kamehameha Schools has a legitimate justification for its admissions policy, which serves a legitimate remedial purpose, and that the policy reasonably relates to this purpose. The intent of Princess Pauahi, as explained through her husband Charles R. Bishop, Chairman of the original Board of Trustees, was that preference be given to Native Hawaiians for admittance to the Kamehameha Schools in order that through proper education they might be competitive with newcomers to Hawaii in maintaining their socioeconomic status, culture, and participate in the governance of their communities. Pauahi’s vision, in sum, was to save her people through education.

The preference provided by the admissions policy is not perpetual nor an absolute bar to the admittance of other races to Kamehameha Schools. Kamehameha Schools reviews its admissions policy on a periodic basis to ensure its consistency with its mission and objectives in attaining the goals set out by Princess Pauahi. The most recent review took place in 2002. The preference was envisioned to last only for so long as it took Kamehameha Schools to fulfill its responsibility in educating Native Hawaiians to overcome the manifest imbalance resulting from socioeconomic and educational disadvantages, or at such earlier date when the Schools has the capacity to also admit non-Native Hawaiians. At present, Kamehameha Schools can enroll only a fraction of the 70,000 children of Native Hawaiian ancestry in the State of Hawaii.

Moreover, Congress has made repeated findings in numerous laws declaring that the Hawaiian Monarchy was unlawfully overthrown with the aid of the United States. Congress additionally has made legislative findings that the United States has a special trust obligation and political relationship to Native Hawaiians as the indigenous people of Hawaii. The Court does not address the merits of the differing views of the events surrounding the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy but only recounts the 1893 events as understood by Congress. In 1993, Congress issued an acknowledgment and apology known as the Apology Resolution where-under Congress acknowledged the United States’ wrongful participation in the overthrow and sought a reconciliation with the Native Hawaiian people.

In 2002, Congress re-enacted the Native Hawaiian Education Act granting preferences to Native Hawaiians in the field of *1147 education. Congress made findings of Native Hawaiian socioeconomic and educational disadvantages similar to those which Kamehameha Schools has identified and is likewise seeking to remedy.

Congress has further acknowledged that notwithstanding its prior efforts to fulfill its special trust relationship with Native Hawaiians there is a continuing substantial need for educational assistance and that the parallel trust of Princess Pauahi establishing the Kamehameha Schools is a significant resource in meeting this need.

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295 F. Supp. 2d 1141, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23434, 2003 WL 23104167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-ex-rel-doe-v-kamehameha-schoolsbernice-pauahi-bishop-estate-hid-2003.