In a major reversal of an earlier opinion, a federal appeals court ruled this morning that a group of Hawaii taxpayers has standing to challenge state funding through taxes of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, but does not have standing to challenge funding of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

In a unanimous vote, a three judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s dismissal of the case on political grounds. But the court affirmed the taxpayer groups’ standing to challenge the “Hawaiians-only” OHA program. The case will be handed back to the U.S. District Court in Hawaii for trial.

The case, known as Arakaki v. Lingle, is one of several lawsuits brought by similar plaintiffs in recent years challenging programs aimed at benefiting native Hawaiians.

H. William Burgess, the attorney representing Earl Arakaki and the other plaintiffs, said this morning “we are disappointed that the court narrowed the scope of our suit as much as it did.”

Burgess said he was pleased with the court’s decision allowing the taxpayers to sue OHA but did not want to be denied standing to sue the federal government or DHHL/Hawaiian Homes Commission.

A federal appeals court ruled today that Hawai'i taxpayers may sue to stop state funding of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for allegedly discriminating against non-Hawaiians.

The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a lower court's dismissal and affirmed the standing of a multiethnic group of taxpayers to challenge the Hawaiians-only programs.