It may be Good Friday (an official State Holiday in Hawaii), but the federal courts are open, and today, on behalf of six plaintiffs including several veterans, we filed a lawsuit challenging under the Equal Protection Clause the State of Hawaii’s practice of excluding military personnel, their families, and university students who pay nonresident
Voting rights | election law
Do-Over Sought In Hawaii Reapportionment Case
By Robert H. Thomas on
Posted in Voting rights | election law
The week before last, the Hawaii Supreme Court unanimously invalidated the Reapportionment Commission’s redistricting plan because the Commission included non-residents in the population base, and the Hawaii Constitution requires use of “the total number of permanent residents in each of the basic island units and computed by the method known as the method of equal …
HAWSCT’s Reapportionment Decision – Who Are “Permanent Residents?”
By Robert H. Thomas on
Posted in Voting rights | election law
On January 6, 2011, the Hawaii Supreme Court issued two opinions in the reapportionment challenges, Solomon v. Abercrombie, No. SCPW-11-0000732, and Matsukawa v. Hawaii, No. SCPW-11-000074. Here’s a summary, as well as some thoughts on the court’s rulings (as far as we can tell, the two opinions are identical).
- To satisfy the one-person-one-vote
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Opinion And Oral Argument Recording In Hawaii Supreme Court Redistricting Case
By Robert H. Thomas on
Posted in Voting rights | election law
The Hawaii Supreme Court has issued its opinion in the redistricting cases. Here it is.
More to come after a chance to digest it.
Here is the oral argument:
Stream it above or download it here. Our live blog of the oral argument is here.
HAWSCT: “Best Efforts” Are Not Good Enough In Reapportionment. But…
By Robert H. Thomas on
Posted in Voting rights | election law
No one exiting the Hawaii Supreme Court courtroom yesterday after oral arguments in the redistricting cases (live blog archive here) should have had much doubt about what the court was going to do: it was quite clear it would invalidate the Hawaii Reapportionment Commission’s recent efforts at districting and divvying up the seats in…
Live Blog: Hawaii Supreme Court Oral Arguments In Reapportionment Case
By Robert H. Thomas on
Posted in Appellate law, Voting rights | election law
If our tech cooperates, on Wednesday, January 4, 2012, starting at 9:00 a.m., we’ll be live blogging the Hawaii Supreme Court oral arguments in the Big Island reapportionment cases, Solomon v. Abercrombie, No. SCPW-11-0000732, and Matsukawa v. Hawaii, No. SCPW-11-0000741. These are original jurisdiction mandamus actions.
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Monday Round-Up: Vested Rights, Land Use Institute, And More
Here’s what we’re reading this fine summer Monday:
- Discussing vested rights at the County Council – Planet Kauai’s Charley Foster writes about the County of Kauai’s proposed ordinance limiting growth in “transient accomodation units,” and the vested rights issue. Charley kindly recommends our law review article on the vested rights/zoning estoppel issue.
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Cal Ct App: No iSign For You!
By Robert H. Thomas on
Here’s an interesting court of appeal decision about the intersection of technology and direct democracy from the epicenter of citizen lawmaking, California.
In Ni v. Slocum, No. A128721 (June 30, 2011), the court held that a voter using his smartphone to put his “electronic signature” on a petition does not qualify as “personally affixing”…
Legislators’ Voting Is An Exercise Of “Power,” Not “Speech”
The technical legal question before the Court in Nevada Comm’n on Ethics v. Carrigan, No. 10-568 (June 13, 2011) was whether legislative voting by an elected official was “speech” and if so, whether the First Amendment allowed him to vote for a casino development proposal in which his campaign manager and personal friend was…
Op-Ed On SCOTUS Carrigan Case: Do Elected Officials With a Conflict of Interest Have a Right to Vote Anyway?
Today, Honolulu Civil Beat features our piece on Nevada Comm’n on Ethics v. Carrigan, “Do Elected Officials With a Conflict of Interest Have a Right to Vote Anyway?“
We’ve written about the case recently in the Zoning & Planning Law Reporter (Supreme Court Preview: Voting as Speech When a Government Official …