The latest news in a fast-moving election law case, about the validity of a Hawaiians-only election to choose delegates to a constitutional convention about the issue of Hawaiian national sovereignty: this morning, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy issued this order which temporarily puts a stop to the counting of the ballots. An extraordinary move, but one which wasn't exactly unpredictable, given the issues involved.
More to follow, for sure. The biggest problem with this thing has always been the public funding. Yes, the money was washed through a non-profit, set up for the purpose of supporting the argument that this is not a publicly-funded election. But come on, the Court would have to be blind to not see the pretense. Justice Kennedy is often the lynchpin in these type of cases (and many others), so it's not good if you are a proponent of the election when he is the Circuit Justice who puts a stop to it, even if only temporarily.
He's also the author of Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495 (2000), the 7-2 decision which struck down under the 15th Amendment the "Hawaiians-only" vote to elect trustees for the State Office of Hawaiian Affairs, in which he wrote:
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