HONOLULU — Kamehameha Schools, a private system created by the will of a Hawaiian royal descendant that gives admissions preference to Native Hawaiians, said it will defend that policy after a conservative legal campaign signaled it intends to challenge the practice in court.
Students for Fair Admissions, the group led by conservative strategist Edward Blum that successfully challenged college affirmative-action programs at the U.S. Supreme Court, launched a website this month vowing to contest Kamehameha’s admissions preference. The campaign asserts it is "essentially impossible" for non-Native Hawaiian students to win admission and calls the policy unlawful.
Kamehameha trustees said the school — established under the 1884 will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I — anticipated renewed legal challenges and is confident its policy complies with established law. The private school system, which the trustees say has an endowment valued at more than $15 billion, serves more than 5,400 students across campuses on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island and provides scholarships and community programs as part of its mission to benefit Native Hawaiians.
The school’s admissions language gives preference to Native Hawaiians “to the extent permitted by law.” That qualification matters legally: conservative attorneys and scholars have expanded challenges to race-conscious policies since the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that barred colleges from considering race in admissions, and they have shifted focus to K‑12 schools, scholarships and programs tied to race or seen as proxies for race.
Kamehameha alumni, parents and local leaders urged the school to mount a strong legal defense. Andria Tupola, a 1998 graduate and member of the Honolulu City Council, said the institution helped deepen her connection to Hawaiian culture and hoped the trustees would hire experienced counsel. Alumni and community members say the school provides educational opportunities and cultural reinforcement for a population that faces disparities in poverty, incarceration and other measures.
Students for Fair Admissions is headed by Edward Blum, who brought prior suits that led to the Supreme Court’s ruling limiting race-conscious admissions. Blum did not provide an on-the-record comment to the Associated Press after being contacted through written questions. The group’s website lists an Arlington, Virginia, mailing address; local lawmakers who sought direct discussions said the office led only to a mailbox.
Legal scholars said the case could raise issues distinct from the college cases that reached the Supreme Court. John Tehranian, a professor at Southwestern Law School, said Blum’s group will likely argue Kamehameha’s policy cannot survive strict constitutional scrutiny because it requires, by design, a racial or ancestry qualification for admission. Kamehameha could seek to defend the policy by invoking a different legal framework, Tehranian added, arguing that programs for Indigenous peoples sometimes are understood as political classifications tied to sovereign status and historically distinct federal protections.
Natasha Warikoo, a professor at Tufts University who studies affirmative action, said conservative litigants have broadened efforts to challenge any educational policies that consider race or factors they view as proxies for race, including family income and neighborhood. The Pacific Legal Foundation in July filed a separate lawsuit challenging a Boston Public Schools policy that gives extra points to students from lower-income areas for exam-school admissions, an example of the broader strategy of targeting K‑12 practices.
Kamehameha’s preference for Native Hawaiians has a contested legal history. In 2005, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals initially struck down an admissions policy that restricted admission to Native Hawaiians, finding it violated federal civil-rights law. The school sought a rehearing, and in 2006 the full 9th Circuit upheld the policy. The school later reached a settlement with the family of a white student who had been denied admission and sued.
The possibility of renewed litigation has produced intense reaction in Hawaii, where many residents view the preference as a remedial measure tied to the islands’ history of colonization and the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Some community members said access to Kamehameha Schools can be transformative, providing affordable tuition and high-quality facilities, cultural programming and scholarships that extend beyond the campuses.
Students and families described personal stakes. Fourteen-year-old Kapua Ong, a freshman who grew up with Hawaiian ancestry documented in a genealogy database and who highlighted cultural skills on her application, said she feels proud and grateful for the opportunity Kamehameha provided. Kona Purdy said his family moved back to Hawaii partly so his daughter could attend the school; they briefly left because of housing and financial pressures and hope she can return.
Some critics have pointed to rare instances of non-Hawaiian students attending Kamehameha. The school’s spokeswoman declined to provide a breakdown of how many non-Hawaiian students have been admitted. School officials have said in past legal filings that admissions may proceed after a list of qualified Native Hawaiian applicants is exhausted.
State politicians and active alumni have tried to engage Blum’s group directly. Brenton Awa, a Republican state senator who did not attend Kamehameha, said he and another Republican traveled to the East Coast to seek dialogue after the campaign became public. He called any attempt to target the school’s mission “racist” and said local leaders were prepared to explain the school’s role in Hawaiian cultural preservation and remedial education.
How a court would treat a renewed challenge remains uncertain. If litigation proceeds, it could test the limits of the Supreme Court’s 2023 guidance on race in admissions and whether separate legal doctrines governing Indigenous peoples’ political status provide a distinct path for institutions serving Native populations.
Kamehameha Schools said it will defend its nearly 140‑year‑old admissions policy and is preparing to litigate if necessary. Local leaders, alumni and families said they are watching closely, emphasizing the stakes for students who see the school as a route to educational advantage and cultural continuity.