Reversals of Fortune: The Hawaii Supreme Court, the Memorandum Opinion, and the Realignment of Political Power in Post-statehood Hawai'i

The Richardson-led Hawaii Supreme Court (1966-82) has been characterized as "controversial, " having "altered Hawaii law so that it became more reflective of the islands' uncommon cultural heritage. "I In contrast, the court under the direction of Herman T. Lum has been called "passive," "a care-taker rather than the player it was under William Richardson," emphasizing "efficiency.

University of Hawai‘i’s senior law professor notifies U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, Jr., of war crimes committed in the Hawaiian Islands

Press release about Professor Chang's Press Conference at William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Monday, September 22, 2014, at 2:00 pm.Senior law professor Williamson B.C. Chang has reported to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. that war crimes have and continue to be committed in the Hawaiian Islands

Indigenous Values and the Law of the Sea

First presented at the 2013 Law and Society Annual Meeting. Chapter 16 in Governing Ocean Resources, New Challenges and Emerging Regimes: A Tribute to Judge Choon-Ho Park (2013).This article proposes that Native Hawaiians reclaim sovereignty over the waters and islands of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The islands, also known as Papahānaumokuākea, are currently managed by two agencies of the United States and the State of Hawai`i as a National Monument comprising some 140,000 square miles.5 Sovereignty or a quasi-sovereign trusteeship over those islands and waters would give Native Hawaiians the power to implement their concepts of ocean governance

Rediscovering the Rooker Doctrine: Section 1983, Res Judicata and the Federal Courts

During the past decade, the Supreme Court has placed limits on access to the federal courts. Its effort, in part, has been mandated by the competing concerns of federal and state sovereignty. In this Article, the author discusses the Supreme Court\u27s efforts in this area and argues for application of the jurisdictional principle expressed in Rooker . Fidelity Trust. The Rooker doctrine, based on the statutes governing federal jurisdiction, states that the lower federal courts have no appellate jurisdiction over state courts. Operating whenever the res judicata rules of a state would bar a second action, Rooker should be the mandatory basis for decision in many cases now covered by other jurisdictional doctrines. The author further argues that application of Rooker would preclude many actions based on 42 U.S.C. § 1983 which allege the unconstitutionality of prior state court proceedings

The "Wasteland" in the Western Exploitation of "Race" and the Environment

63 U. Colo. L. Rev. 849 1992The problems of racism' and environmental destruction seem the most persistent and insoluble in our society. There seems to be an ideological blind spot as to these two issues. Our ability to find solutions seems hindered by emotions, circularity and self-referencing arguments that block meaningful analysis. Much of this inability stems from the "eurocentric" patterns of thought that have come to dominate views of nature and other peoples different in creed, religion, culture and color of skin