August 28, 2009
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker
The Honorable John Boehner, Republican Leader
The Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Republican Leader
The Honorable Nick J. Rahall II, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources
The Honorable Doc Hastings, Ranking Member, Committee on Natural Resources
The Honorable Byron Dorgan, Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
The Honorable John Barrasso, Vice Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
The Honorable John Conyers, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Lamar Smith, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Re: Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act
Dear Distinguished Members of Congress:
Three years ago, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report opposing the
passage of the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Although that
report focused on an earlier version of the proposed legislation, that earlier version was
substantially similar to S. 1011. Specifically, the report stated:
“The Commission recommends against passage of the Native Hawaiian
Government Reorganization Act … or any other legislation that would
discriminate on the basis of race or national origin and further subdivide the
American People into discrete subgroups accorded varying degrees of privilege.â€
We write today to reiterate our opposition to the proposal.1 We do not believe
Congress has the constitutional authority to “reorganize†racial or ethnic groups into
dependent sovereign nations unless those groups have a long and continuous history of
separate self-governance. Moreover, quite apart from the issue of constitutional
authority, creating such an entity sets a harmful precedent. Ethnic Hawaiians will surely
not be the only group to demand such treatment. On what ground will Congress tell these
other would-be tribes no?
Some advocates of S. 1011 readily concede that the bill is an effort to preserve the
State of Hawaii’s current practice of conferring an array of special benefits exclusively
on its ethnic Hawaiian citizens—to the detriment of it citizens of African, Asian,
European or other heritage. In essence, it is an attempted end-run around the Supreme
Court’s decisions in Rice v. Cayetano2 and City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co.3 The
Constitution, however, cannot be circumvented so easily. And even if it could be, we
would oppose passing legislation with the purpose of shoring up a system of racially
exclusive benefits.4
In closing we would like to point out that in 1840, the Kingdom of Hawaii adopted
a Constitution with a bicameral, multi-racial legislature. The Constitution was signed by
two hands—that of Kamehameha’s son King Kamehameha III and that of the holder of
the second-highest office in the nation, Keoni Ana, the son of the British-born Hawaiian
Minister John Young. Its opening sentence, the substance of which was suggested by an
American missionary, was based loosely on a Biblical verse:  “Ua hana mai ke Akua i na
lahuikanaka a pau i ke koko hookahi, e noho like lakou ma ka honua nei me ke kuikahi, a
me ka pomaikai.†Translated, the passage might read: “God has made of one blood all
races of people to dwell upon this Earth in unity and blessedness.â€
It would be ironic to attempt to honor the dynamic, cosmopolitan Kingdom of
Hawaii by disdaining these words.5 We urge you to vote against the measure.
If you would like any further information or we can do anything else to assist you,
please do not hesitate to ask. We can be reached through the Chairman’s special
assistant, Dominique Ludvigson, at (202) 376-7626 or at dludvigson@usccr.gov.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Gerald A. Reynolds
Chairman
Abigail Thernstrom
Vice Chair
Todd Gaziano
Commissioner
Gail Heriot
Commissioner
Peter Kirsanow
Commissioner
Ashley Taylor, Jr.
Commissioner
cc: Commissioner Arlan Melendez
Commissioner Michael Yaki
