URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001107.asp

Monday, July 21, 2003

Native Hawaiians and their bipartisan allies say they face a difficult fight to secure federal recognition of Hawaii's first people.

Gov. Linda Lingle (R) is a backer of Native Hawaiian sovereignty. But she tells The Washington Post that Department of Justice lawyers are generally against it.

DOJ Solicitor General Ted Olson, who handles Supreme Court litigation for the Bush administration, represented a white rancher who challenged a Native Hawaiian election. The Supreme Court in 2000 struck down the election as unconstitutional.

In the Senate, Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) are co-sponsoring a bill to recognize the government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians. Akaka says DOJ lawyers are concerned about "race."

In the House, the main sponsor is Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), who secured passage in September 2000 of a prior version of the bill.

Get the Story:
Native Hawaiians Reclaim Heritage (The Washington Post 7/20)

Get the Bills:
S.344 | H.R.665

Relevant Links:
Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Site - http://www.hawaii-nation.org
Native Hawaiians, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/nativehawaiians
Native Hawaiian Federal Recognition Site - http://www.nativehawaiians.com

Related Stories:
Student denied entry into Hawaiian school sues (06/30)
DOJ objected to Native Hawaiian legislation (06/06)
Native Hawaiians denied party status in suit (04/01)
Native Hawaiian office established in D.C. (02/27)
Opinion: Oppose Native Hawaiian bill (2/21)
Court affirms Native Hawaiian ruling (01/06)
Native Hawaiians press sovereignty (10/14)
U.S. dismissed from Native Hawaiian case (09/04)
Inouye: Native Hawaiian bill won't pass (8/8)
Native Hawaiian bill supported (7/16)
Native Hawaiians intervene in lawsuit (7/12)
Judge won't halt Hawaiian funding (3/14)
Native Hawaiian trust challenged (3/6)
Native Hawaiian bill on Senate agenda (7/20)
Federal judge blocks Army training (7/19)
Native Hawaiian lawsuit dismissed (7/13)
Shift in Senate means changes for Indian Country (5/25)
Senate confirms Olson as Solicitor General (5/25)
Native Hawaiian lands threatened (5/24)
A first for Native Hawaiians (4/5)
Indian Law and the Supreme Court (12/11)
OHA survives elections (11/14)
Final Hawaiian report released (10/24)
Native Hawaiian bill passes House (9/27)
Hawaiian affairs still controversial (9/13)
US recommends Hawaiian sovereignty (8/24)
Non-Natives win battle in suit (8/17)
Where are the Dems on tribes? (8/16)
March raises sovereignty awareness (8/14)
The GOP 2000 Platform on Native Americans (8/1)
Group challenges Hawaii (7/7)
Hawaiians march for sovereignty (7/5)

All stories in the Indianz.Com Archive are available for publishing under a Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)