A brief history of the case
| • | Kamehameha allowed to stay 'Hawaiians first' |
Advertiser Staff
JUNE 2003
On behalf of an unnamed non-Hawaiian student, identified only as John Doe, attorneys John Goemans and Eric Grant file a civil-rights lawsuit disputing Kamehameha's admissions policy.
AUGUST 2003
A federal court orders Kamehameha Schools to enroll a non-Hawaiian boy, 12-year-old Brayden Mohica-Cummings, until a final verdict on the admissions policy is made.
NOVEMBER 2003
U.S. District Judge Alan Kay decides against John Doe, ruling that Kamehameha Schools can continue its Hawaiians-preference admissions policy because of its unique and historical circumstances.
NOVEMBER 2003
Trustees for Kamehameha Schools approve a settlement allowing a seventh-grade non-Hawaiian student to continue attending the private school until he graduates. In exchange, Grant and Goemans, the lawyers for Mohica-Cummings, agree to drop one of their two federal court challenges to the school's admissions policy. The two lawyers appeal Kay's John Doe ruling.
AUG. 2, 2005
By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides in favor of John Doe, ruling that Kamehameha's admissions policy constitutes unlawful racial discrimination and throwing the 120-year-old policy into limbo. A week later, the same three judges deny a request by John Doe to be admitted in the fall, pending an appeal by the school.
AUG. 6, 2005
About 20,000 Kamehameha students, alumni and other supporters rally on all major Hawaiian islands and the Mainland to show their support for the embattled school. At a major rally in Honolulu, thousands hear a string of fiery speeches before marching two miles to Mauna 'Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nu'uanu, where founder Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop is buried.
FEB. 22, 2006
The 9th Circuit grants Kamehameha's request for an en banc rehearing of its August 2-1 decision, essentially throwing out that decision pending a review by a larger panel of 15 judges.
YESTERDAY
In an 8-7 decision, the full 9th Circuit rules that the admissions policy does not violate a federal civil rights law first enacted in 1866 to prohibit discrimination in contracts against newly freed slaves.
