The State of Hawaii filed its merits brief in the “ceded lands” case, Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, No. 07-1372 (cert.granted Oct. 1, 2008). Download the brief here.
The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court in Office of Hawaiian Affairs v. Housing and Community Dev. Corp. …
The most easily recognizable equal protection claim is one in which the plaintiff claims membership in a protected group, and some form of discrimination against the class. Another type of equal protection claim is the “class of one” claim under Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, 528 U.S. 562 (2000) (per curiam), where the Court…
Thanks to David Breemer at Pacific Legal Foundation for calling our attention to this recent Ninth Circuit case. In North Pacifica, LLC v. City of Pacifica, No. 05-16069 (May 13, 2008), a northern California landowner claimed the city’s delays in processing acondominium permit violated its substantive due process and equalprotection rights. The Ninth Circuit…
To all those who attended today’s seminar, thank you. Here are the links to the cases I mentioned. From the morning session on Case Law Update:
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A complaint has been filed in U.S. District Court against the mayor of Kauai County, the county Department of Planning, and the Planning Commission over the Coconut Beach development. The complaint seeks relief for violations of equal protection, and federal civil rights laws. Charley Foster has some background on the case here. Download the…
It’s a pretty rare event when a court invalidates a law for violating the Equal Protection clauses of either the Hawaii or U.S. Constitution under rational basis review. In Silva v. City & County of Honolulu, No. 27385 (Aug. 10, 2007), the Hawaii Supreme Court did just that, holding that Haw. Rev. Stat.
“Rational basis” judicial review in equal protection law, as every law student knows, means virtually no review. As long as the government provides a “plausible” justification for its discrimination between “non-suspect” classes, a court should defer to the legislature’s judgment and uphold the classification. That is why it is also known as the “minimum rationality”…
Recently, I was a guest on Jay Fidell’s ThinkTech program on Hawaii Public Radio, talking about legal issues that may arise when legislation is targeted at specific individuals or companies (what I refer to as “single victim legislation”).
The issue raised its head when the Hawaii Legislature seemed ready to consider a proposal requiring one…
