Posted on 12/05/2006 1:03:51 PM PST by SmithL
San Francisco -- A divided federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a Hawaiian private school can favor Hawaiian natives for admission to help a downtrodden indigenous population.
The decision by a majority of a 15-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the court's three-judge decision that the Kamehameha Schools policy amounted to unlawful discrimination.
The majority noted that the case, brought by a white student excluded because of his race, was unique because Congress has singled out the plight of native Hawaiians as they have with Alaskan natives and American Indians.
The policy, the court ruled, "furthers the urgent need for better education of Native Hawaiians, which Congress has repeatedly identified as necessary."
Three of the dissenting judges wrote separately that civil rights law "prohibits a private school from denying admission to prospective students because of their race."
The Kamehameha Schools was established under the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop as part of a trust now worth about $6.8 billion. Part of the school's mission is to counteract historic disadvantages Native Hawaiians face in employment, education and society.
The trust subsidizes tuition and is designed to reverse the economic and educational plight of Native Hawaiians and to help remedy some of the wrongs done during the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.
The nation's largest federal appeals court rehears cases with larger panels if the judges agree to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Sounds like freedom to me.
Private school, I would think they could give preference to any one they choose.
My thoughts exactly. It's a private trust. They can spend their money how they want.
'Nuff said.
Enough said: It's a private school, case closed. What Congress may or may not want is irrelevant.
The only issue is the fact that private schools aren't generally allowed to admit or deny students as they please.
Then legally a private school can favor white, Christian or Jewish. Legally. Allowing one group to break the law, breaks the law so it is no longer valid.
I'm still waiting for the gov to give a legal definition of the various races.
"The only issue is the fact that private schools aren't generally allowed to admit or deny students as they please."
- Is it connected to the tax-exempt status?
BINGO!!!!
Key word here, "private".
If the trust is sitting on $6.8 billion, one might wonder in whose interest it's being administered.
is it really a "private" school? that's the key to this case.
Bingo.
Race ~ it's not even a color difference since all humans are the same color.
It's a private school, let them do what they want.
Considering it's a private schools, sounds like they are upholding property rights.
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