Commissioner of Public Lands Supports Cert Petition in Ceded Lands Case

The New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands has filed a brief amicus curiae urging the US Supreme Court to review the "ceded lands" case, Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, No. 07-1372 (cert. petition filed Apr. 29, 2008).  In that case, the State seeks U.S. Supreme Court review of the decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court in Office of Hawaiian Affairs v. Housing and Community Dev. Corp. of Hawaii, 117 Haw. 174, 177 P.3d 884 (Jan. 31, 2008).  In that decision, the Hawaii Supreme Court, relying on the "Apology Resolution," enjoined the State of Hawaii from conveying 1.2 million acres of state-owned land until a political settlement is reached with Native Hawaiians about the status of that land.

The Commissioner is the officer charged with authority to control the lands granted in trust to New Mexico when it joined the Union.  The brief asserts:

The decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court imposes an unprecedented restriction on the alienation of lands granted by the federal government to provide support for schools and other public benefits.  The Court found authority for that resolution in the Apology Resolution (The Joint Resolution to Acknowledge the 100th Anniversary of the January 17, 1893 Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Pub. L. No. 103-150, 107 Stat. 1510 (1993)), passed by Congress 34 years after the federal government granted the lands to the state in trust and established the terms of the trust.  In granting the federal lands to the State of Hawaii in trust upon its admission into the Union, Congress followed a practice that had evolved from the earliest days of the Union to allow new states to be admitted on an equal footing with existing states.

Brief at 2-3. 

The brief is available here. The State of Hawaii's cert petition is here, Pacific Legal Foundation's amicus brief supporting cert is here, and the brief of 29 states supporting Hawaii is here.