The State of Hawaii has filed its Brief in Opposition in UFO Chuting of Hawaii, Inc. v. Thelen, No. 07-1427 (petition for cert. filed May 12, 2008). The petition seeks review of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in UFO Chuting of Hawaii, Inc. v Smith, 508 F.3d 1189 (9th Cir. 2007), a case I blogged about here. In UFO Chuting, the Ninth Circuit held:
We hold that UFO’s right to operate vesselsunder its federal maritime coasting licenses does not preempt Hawaiilaw prohibiting parasailing off the coast of Maui during limitedportions of the year to protect mating humpback whales.
Read the entire opinion here. The case is a challenge to the State of Hawaii’s regulationsrestricting parasailing in waters off Maui, because they intereferewith federal statutes and navigation rights. My Damon Key colleague Mark Murakami analyzed the case onhis hawaiioceanlaw.com blog here. We filed an amicus brief in the case focusing on one question presented:
May state regulation totally prohibit the free navigation of federallylicensed vessels for five months of the year without violating theSupremacy Clause?
The petition for cert is posted here. Our amicus is posted here. The Supreme Court’s docket report on the case is here.