HILO — Six Oahu residents filed a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, challenging the constitutionality of the new state House and Senate maps.
HILO — Six Oahu residents filed a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, challenging the constitutionality of the new state House and Senate maps.
The lawsuit against the Reapportionment Commission and Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago, filed by Honolulu attorney Robert Harris and others, asks that the plan be thrown out and a new plan made that includes all residents counted in the 2010 census, with districts drawn as equal in residents as possible.
The Hawaii Supreme Court in January required the Reapportionment Commission to redraw the maps to remove the nonresidents based on a successful lawsuit filed by Big Island Democratic Party members. Challengers pointed to the Big Island’s 24.5 percent population growth, the highest in the state, as a reason to increase representation here.
At stake for the Big Island is a fourth state Senate district it gained when the nonresidents were removed. That angered a number of state legislators on Oahu, where redrawn districts also pitted several incumbent House members against each other.
The lawsuit could throw the entire election into chaos. Candidates have already started pulling nomination papers for the Aug. 11 primary. The filing deadline is June 5.
The six plaintiffs, including three veterans and state Rep. K. Mark Takai, contend the Reapportionment Commission violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when it extracted nonresident military and students from counts that determined district lines.
“Persons counted as usual residents of Hawaii by the U.S. Census were not counted as usual residents in any other state at the time the census was taken,” notes the lawsuit.
Harris could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Reapportionment Commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks did not return a message left on her cell phone.
Kailua-Kona attorney Michael Matsukawa, one of the plaintiffs in the successful state Supreme Court lawsuit who has also been involved in previous lawsuits over reapportionment and redistricting predicted the plaintiffs will have an uphill battle. Previous rulings have found removing nonpermanent residents to be constitutional, he said.
“Maybe they’re hoping the courts might revisit the subject once again,” Matsukawa said. “It’s kind of hard though because they are going against precedent.”
A similar lawsuit dealt with Hawaii County’s council redistricting following the 2000 census. Matsukawa at that time represented a citizens group that sued for the same reason: Nonresident military and students weren’t extracted from County Council district maps.
In addition to Takai, a Democrat currently representing Aiea and Pearl City and a Major in the Hawaii National Guard, plaintiffs are medically discharged Army 1st Lt. Joseph Kostick, retired Army Col. David P. Brostrom, retired U.S. Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Larry S. Veray, Manoa resident and conservative blogger Andrew Walden and Aiea resident Edwin J. Gayagas. They are asking that a three-judge panel hear the case.