''Arakaki v. State of Hawai'i'', 314 F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002), was a lawsuit challenging the requirement that candidates for election to the

Office of Hawaiian Affairs The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is a self-governing corporate body of the State of Hawaii created by the 1978 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention. Background In 1893, pro-American elements in Hawaii overthrew the monarchy and formed the ...

board of trustees be

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

. In 2000, after being barred from applying for nomination papers in June because he was not of Hawaiian ancestry, Kenneth R. Conklin was one of 13 plaintiffs in a controversial lawsuit ''Arakaki v. State of Hawai'i'' challenging the requirement that candidates for election to the

board of trustees be Hawaiian. The suit, argued by attorneys

H. William Burgess H. William Burgess (March 13, 1929 – March 16, 2016) was an attorney who lived in Hawaii. He opposed the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and of government programs that benefit Native Hawaiians. Burgess brought two lawsuits seeking to have such pr ...

and co-counsel Patrick W. Hanifin, claimed the restriction violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth Amendment, and the

Voting Rights Act The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...

. In August, U.S. District Judge

Helen Gillmor Helen W. Gillmor (born 1942) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Early life and education Born in Syracuse, New York, Gillmor received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens Col ...

issued a judgment allowing non-Hawaiians to run for OHA trustee. Conklin then ran unsuccessfully for OHA trustee in November 2000, placing 4th out of 20 candidates for one "at large" seat. (The winner, Haunani Apoliona, took 58,264 votes or 15.7%, and Conklin took 18,115 votes or 4.9% - there were also 117,597 blank votes or 31.7%)

References

External links

Link to essay where Conklin identifies himself as opponent of Hawaiian movement
2000 in United States case law Hawaii law United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cases Native Hawaiian history {{US-case-law-stub