Federal lawsuit challenges Hawaiian Home Lands blood-quantum requirement
By Cassie Ordonio
June 4, 2026 at 10:20 AM HST
A local conservative activist is targeting a federal law that promises homestead land to Native Hawaiians alleging the program intended to rehabilitate the Hawaiian race "discriminates based on ancestry.”
Pacific Legal Foundation, created in 1973 in Sacramento, California, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday on behalf of Eric Ryan, a Honolulu resident who applied for the program last year but was denied because of the 50% Native Hawaiian blood quantum requirement.
Ryan is not Native Hawaiian, and his attorney Caleb Trotter said that the eligibility requirement is unconstitutional. The lawsuit alleges that it violates the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment and the Due Process Clause in the 5th Amendment.
“The case is about the broader principle of equality under the law, that the 14th and 5th Amendments ensure that the government must provide and protect for all Americans, not just ones of one select racial or ancestry group,” he said.
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in Kapolei (960x720, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
Trotter said if the court was to rule in Ryan’s favor, it wouldn’t put an end to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands or take away leases. Rather, he said anyone interested in applying for a homestead lease and placed on the waitlist in the future would not be excluded based on their ancestry. That would mean anyone who is non-Native Hawaiian can also apply for homestead leases and be on the waitlist.
This case is just one of the latest lawsuits filed against Native Hawaiian programs and institutions. It’s become a conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives nationwide.
Last year, the Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit challenging the Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy giving preference to Native Hawaiians. The group has been successful in ending affirmative action, which allowed schools to consider race in admissions.
Earlier this year, the Utah-based nonprofit Do No Harm sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, claiming that a health scholarship aimed at helping Hawaiians become doctors, nurses and other medical providers is unconstitutional.
The Hawaiian Homes program, which is Hawai‘i’s oldest program for Native Hawaiians, has become the latest target.
Congress passed a law in 1921, setting aside 200,000 acres of land across Hawai‘i for Native Hawaiians. To be eligible, Hawaiians need to prove a 50% blood quantum. Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, who was also a delegate to the U.S. Congress, pushed for that law to rehabilitate the Hawaiian race after the Indigenous Hawaiian population was dwindling after foreign contact in the late 1700s. According to Pew Research, the population declined 84% by 1840 after the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.
DHHL Director and Chair Kali Watson disagrees with the arguments in the lawsuit.
“When you look at the due process violation argument, we follow due process,” he said. “We gave him the right to submit an application, and using the criteria set by Congress and the state, he doesn't qualify. So he did get due process, and he was denied because he didn't meet the requirements.”
Watson was listed as a defendant in the lawsuit along with Doug Burgum, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, and the United States of America.
There are currently 29,000 Native Hawaiians on the waitlist for homestead leases.
Lawsuit’s only plaintiff leads right-wing fringe group
Pacific Legal Foundation has previously represented Do No Harm, which sued Brooke Cunningham, a commissioner with the Minnesota Department of Health last year.
The Sacramento-based law firm has also submitted amicus briefs to support Students for Fair Admissions, which successfully challenged affirmative action at Harvard and Freddy Rice, the man who sued for the right to vote in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs election that was limited to Native Hawaiian voters.
Eric Ryan is suing over the blood quantum requirement. (4032x3024, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
The law firm has won 18 out of 20 cases in its more than 50 years.
In its lawsuit challenging the blood-quantum requirement for Hawaiian home lands, Pacific Legal Foundation argues that the program is race-based and therefore unconstitutional. The lawsuit focuses on the definition of Native Hawaiian and blood quantum.
“The statutory definition turns exclusively on ancestry and blood quantum,” according to the lawsuit. “Native Hawaiians are not federally recognized Indian tribes, and eligibility for Hawaiian Homes Lands leases does not depend on membership in a federally recognized Indian tribe, but solely on descent from particular ethnic groups inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778.”
The lawsuit also argues that eligibility for Hawaiian home lands doesn’t "depend on membership in any federally recognized Indian tribe, participation in a sovereign tribal government or enrollment in any political community.”
The public interest law firm seeks individuals affected by laws that they believe violate the U.S. Constitution. Trotter said that Ryan is their only client in this case. The law firm found Ryan, according to a representative.
“Eric Ryan is the only person that has been willing to take this case on as a plaintiff,” Trotter said. “It's no surprise that it's a contentious and controversial case.”
Ryan is the president of the Hawai‘i Republican Assembly, or HIRA, a right-wing fringe group that’s hypercritical of the state’s GOP leadership and initiatives.
In 2018, he was expelled from the Republican Party during a period of internal party friction.
He’s also a writer for HIRA News, a conservative O‘ahu-based media outlet. It’s the same outlet that A. Kai Lorinc writes for. Lorinc is the woman who called ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi a "dead language" at a Honolulu City Council meeting in 2024.
Criticisms on the blood quantum
There are currently 29,000 Native Hawaiians on the waitlist for homestead leases. DHHL received $600 million from the Legislature in 2022 to address its decades-long waitlist.
Only about 10% of Hawai‘i’s population identifies as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, while about 25% report two or more races, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
But there are some Native Hawaiians who also don’t qualify for homestead leases because they don’t meet the 50% blood quantum eligibility.
Native Hawaiian critics have called the blood quantum a colonial construct.
Former U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, who now chairs the Office of Hawaiian of Affairs Board of Trustees, introduced federal legislation that would’ve lowered the blood quantum requirement to about 25% for Hawaiian Home Lands. The measure did not move forward.
It was never Kūhiō’s intent to apply a limit or blood quantum for Native Hawaiians to get land. In fact, he wanted all Native Hawaiians to be eligible regardless of blood quantum, but he had to make compromises, according to Watson.
Major landowners and sugar interests in Hawai‘i were lobbying for a much higher percentage in the blood quantum because they didn't want to lose their land. Congress settled on 50% as a compromise.
“When you look at the purpose of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, it was really to prevent the loss of a Native Hawaiian race,” Watson said.
What’s next?
Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday issued a statement defending the requirements within the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.
“This lawsuit threatens that commitment,” he said in a news release. “I have directed the Department of the Attorney General to vigorously defend the Hawaiian Homes program. We will fight this lawsuit with everything we have.”
There’s no set timeline for a court date. The defendants will need to respond to the case and decide to move forward in a legal battle.
Gov. Josh Green delivers his fourth State of the State address to lawmakers on Jan. 26, 2026. (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
The Trump Administration is seeking to eliminate federal funding for the DDHL in its 2027 budget. The administration has argued that Native Hawaiians should be classified as a racial group rather than a recognized tribal nation
That has many Native Hawaiian advocates worried.
Dre Kalili, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, said this lawsuit is a repeat of previous cases in the early 2000s.
“No one likes a challenge to a program that supports a Native Hawaiian community, a family or a program,” she said. “These programs were established for very good reasons. They're well justified. No one likes the challenge, but we are here to do what we can to support and defend.”
Hawaiʻi Public Radio exists to serve all of Hawai’i, and it’s the people of Hawai’i who keep us independent and strong. Donate today. Mahalo for your support.
Pacific Legal Foundation, created in 1973 in Sacramento, California, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday on behalf of Eric Ryan, a Honolulu resident who applied for the program last year but was denied because of the 50% Native Hawaiian blood quantum requirement.
Ryan is not Native Hawaiian, and his attorney Caleb Trotter said that the eligibility requirement is unconstitutional. The lawsuit alleges that it violates the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment and the Due Process Clause in the 5th Amendment.
“The case is about the broader principle of equality under the law, that the 14th and 5th Amendments ensure that the government must provide and protect for all Americans, not just ones of one select racial or ancestry group,” he said.
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in Kapolei (960x720, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
Trotter said if the court was to rule in Ryan’s favor, it wouldn’t put an end to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands or take away leases. Rather, he said anyone interested in applying for a homestead lease and placed on the waitlist in the future would not be excluded based on their ancestry. That would mean anyone who is non-Native Hawaiian can also apply for homestead leases and be on the waitlist.
This case is just one of the latest lawsuits filed against Native Hawaiian programs and institutions. It’s become a conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives nationwide.
Last year, the Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit challenging the Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy giving preference to Native Hawaiians. The group has been successful in ending affirmative action, which allowed schools to consider race in admissions.
Earlier this year, the Utah-based nonprofit Do No Harm sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, claiming that a health scholarship aimed at helping Hawaiians become doctors, nurses and other medical providers is unconstitutional.
The Hawaiian Homes program, which is Hawai‘i’s oldest program for Native Hawaiians, has become the latest target.
Congress passed a law in 1921, setting aside 200,000 acres of land across Hawai‘i for Native Hawaiians. To be eligible, Hawaiians need to prove a 50% blood quantum. Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, who was also a delegate to the U.S. Congress, pushed for that law to rehabilitate the Hawaiian race after the Indigenous Hawaiian population was dwindling after foreign contact in the late 1700s. According to Pew Research, the population declined 84% by 1840 after the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.
DHHL Director and Chair Kali Watson disagrees with the arguments in the lawsuit.
“When you look at the due process violation argument, we follow due process,” he said. “We gave him the right to submit an application, and using the criteria set by Congress and the state, he doesn't qualify. So he did get due process, and he was denied because he didn't meet the requirements.”
Watson was listed as a defendant in the lawsuit along with Doug Burgum, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, and the United States of America.
There are currently 29,000 Native Hawaiians on the waitlist for homestead leases.
Lawsuit’s only plaintiff leads right-wing fringe group
Pacific Legal Foundation has previously represented Do No Harm, which sued Brooke Cunningham, a commissioner with the Minnesota Department of Health last year.
The Sacramento-based law firm has also submitted amicus briefs to support Students for Fair Admissions, which successfully challenged affirmative action at Harvard and Freddy Rice, the man who sued for the right to vote in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs election that was limited to Native Hawaiian voters.
Eric Ryan is suing over the blood quantum requirement. (4032x3024, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
The law firm has won 18 out of 20 cases in its more than 50 years.
In its lawsuit challenging the blood-quantum requirement for Hawaiian home lands, Pacific Legal Foundation argues that the program is race-based and therefore unconstitutional. The lawsuit focuses on the definition of Native Hawaiian and blood quantum.
“The statutory definition turns exclusively on ancestry and blood quantum,” according to the lawsuit. “Native Hawaiians are not federally recognized Indian tribes, and eligibility for Hawaiian Homes Lands leases does not depend on membership in a federally recognized Indian tribe, but solely on descent from particular ethnic groups inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778.”
The lawsuit also argues that eligibility for Hawaiian home lands doesn’t "depend on membership in any federally recognized Indian tribe, participation in a sovereign tribal government or enrollment in any political community.”
The public interest law firm seeks individuals affected by laws that they believe violate the U.S. Constitution. Trotter said that Ryan is their only client in this case. The law firm found Ryan, according to a representative.
“Eric Ryan is the only person that has been willing to take this case on as a plaintiff,” Trotter said. “It's no surprise that it's a contentious and controversial case.”
Ryan is the president of the Hawai‘i Republican Assembly, or HIRA, a right-wing fringe group that’s hypercritical of the state’s GOP leadership and initiatives.
In 2018, he was expelled from the Republican Party during a period of internal party friction.
He’s also a writer for HIRA News, a conservative O‘ahu-based media outlet. It’s the same outlet that A. Kai Lorinc writes for. Lorinc is the woman who called ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi a "dead language" at a Honolulu City Council meeting in 2024.
Criticisms on the blood quantum
There are currently 29,000 Native Hawaiians on the waitlist for homestead leases. DHHL received $600 million from the Legislature in 2022 to address its decades-long waitlist.
Only about 10% of Hawai‘i’s population identifies as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, while about 25% report two or more races, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
But there are some Native Hawaiians who also don’t qualify for homestead leases because they don’t meet the 50% blood quantum eligibility.
Native Hawaiian critics have called the blood quantum a colonial construct.
Former U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, who now chairs the Office of Hawaiian of Affairs Board of Trustees, introduced federal legislation that would’ve lowered the blood quantum requirement to about 25% for Hawaiian Home Lands. The measure did not move forward.
It was never Kūhiō’s intent to apply a limit or blood quantum for Native Hawaiians to get land. In fact, he wanted all Native Hawaiians to be eligible regardless of blood quantum, but he had to make compromises, according to Watson.
Major landowners and sugar interests in Hawai‘i were lobbying for a much higher percentage in the blood quantum because they didn't want to lose their land. Congress settled on 50% as a compromise.
“When you look at the purpose of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, it was really to prevent the loss of a Native Hawaiian race,” Watson said.
What’s next?
Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday issued a statement defending the requirements within the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.
“This lawsuit threatens that commitment,” he said in a news release. “I have directed the Department of the Attorney General to vigorously defend the Hawaiian Homes program. We will fight this lawsuit with everything we have.”
There’s no set timeline for a court date. The defendants will need to respond to the case and decide to move forward in a legal battle.
Gov. Josh Green delivers his fourth State of the State address to lawmakers on Jan. 26, 2026. (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
The Trump Administration is seeking to eliminate federal funding for the DDHL in its 2027 budget. The administration has argued that Native Hawaiians should be classified as a racial group rather than a recognized tribal nation
That has many Native Hawaiian advocates worried.
Dre Kalili, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, said this lawsuit is a repeat of previous cases in the early 2000s.
“No one likes a challenge to a program that supports a Native Hawaiian community, a family or a program,” she said. “These programs were established for very good reasons. They're well justified. No one likes the challenge, but we are here to do what we can to support and defend.”
Hawaiʻi Public Radio exists to serve all of Hawai’i, and it’s the people of Hawai’i who keep us independent and strong. Donate today. Mahalo for your support.