The Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, published by the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai`i has just published a new analysis of the Akaka Bill.
Here's an excerpt from their conclusion -
"The Akaka bill is novel in that it is the first Congressional attempt to federally recognize a non-Indian entity, and to do so in a fashion inconsistent with the political history of the former governing entity it is ostensibly recognizing.
Under a different view, the Akaka bill is novel in that it endeavors to federally recognize a government to collectively represent an entire ethnic group based upon shared indigeneity, rather than political history. But political history, not indegeneity, begets federal recognition.
As a result the Akaka bill faces invalidation because its political-historical inconsistencies – most of all with regard to who is Hawaiian – raise a number of cognizable legal issues potentially fatal to the bill...."
Download The Entire Report Here
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