Commissioners Peter Kirsanow, Todd Gaziano, Gail Heriot, and Abigail Thernstrom of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights have written the attached letter to President Obama urging him not to implement by executive order provisions of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization bill, which has never been enacted. The letter argues that such action would be both unwise as policy and unconstitutional. The Center for Equal Opportunity agrees: This is an issue on which we have long been active. This bill is simply an attempt to circumvent the ban on racial preferences by declaring – falsely – that Native Hawaiians are an Indian tribe rather than an ethnic group (as the Supreme Court has ruled).
