Hawaii Supreme Court flips off US Supremes

| October 25, 2024 | 28 Comments

Apparently Hawaii’s state government is under the impression that the US Constitution is a set of suggestions, and that they and their state can just sort of blow it off whenever they want to, and “The Spirit of Aloha” is the governing law of their little island paradise.

The Supreme Court of Hawaii has handed down a decision that claims there is no right to carry a firearm for self-defense in the state, while also chastising the U.S. Supreme Court and making the assertion that Hawaii is not required to follow its rulings on the Second Amendment.

Christopher Wilson was arrested for carrying a gun in 2017, in violation of a state law which forbids personal carry outside the home. First convicted, then his conviction was reversed on appeal after the USSC decision on Bruen (New York State Pistol & Rifle Association v. Bruen ) which found for the right to carry outside the home. Then the case was appealed to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

The decision by the Supreme Court of Hawaii has garnered national attention for its brazen refusal to follow the Supreme Court’s ruling, as well as its unique reasoning.

While Article 1, Section 17 of the Hawaiian Constitution is nearly identical to the words of the Second Amendment, the state supreme court found that there is actually no right to carry a firearm in the Hawaiian Constitution and argued that the U.S.’s highest court also got it wrong when reviewing the U.S. Constitution.

“We read those words differently than the current United States Supreme Court,” read the unanimous ruling, which was written by Justice Todd Eddins.

The opinion claimed that when the state’s supreme court sees things differently than the Supreme Court, “this court frequently walks another way. Long ago, the Hawai?i Supreme Court announced that an ‘opinion of the United States Supreme Court . . . is merely another source of authority, admittedly to be afforded respectful consideration, but which we are free to accept or reject in establishing the outer limits of protection afforded by . . . the Hawai?i Constitution.

The court reasoned, “As the world turns, it makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to the founding era’s culture, realities, laws, and understanding of the Constitution. ‘The thing about the old days, they the old days.’”

Think that translates to “We disagree…eff off.” Apparently the irony of “the Constitution is too old so we follow an ancestral spirit” escapes them.

The judges stated that, until the last few decades, there was no understanding that the Second Amendment provided individuals the right to bear arms. They also argued that justices had cherrypicked laws and historical tradition, while ignoring anything that would debunk their reasonings in order to come to its 2022 decision in Bruen, its 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, and its 2010 decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago, all of which affirm the individual’s right to self-defense under the Constitution.

The Hawaiian Supreme Court also took issue with the test established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bruen, which requires judges to look to the historical tradition of firearms restrictions when deciding Second Amendment cases.

“Time-traveling to 1791 or 1868 to collar how a state regulates lethal weapons — per the Constitution’s democratic design — is a dangerous way to look at the federal constitution. The Constitution is not a ‘suicide pact,’” the judges wrote. “We believe it is a misplaced view to think that today’s public safety laws must look like laws passed long ago. Smoothbore, muzzle-loaded, and powder-and-ramrod muskets were not exactly useful to colonial era mass murderers.”

One can only assume they wrote this opinion with quill pens on parchment before dispatching a copy to the States on a schooner?

Their opinion is all over the map – strict reading of the 2nd Amendment supposedly does not guarantee an individual right… yet they say the 14th, which never mentions abortion, guarantees that ‘right’ for any who wish one.

The Hawaiian Supreme Court was very insistent that words have meaning and that the exact wording of an amendment matters. That was the main crux of their argument in this case: The Second Amendment doesn’t grant a right to everyday citizens because it doesn’t use the words “individual” or “self-defense.”

However, the 14th Amendment, which was used to insist on the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade, doesn’t use the words “abortion” or “privacy” nor does it state anything about the “right” to either. It actually says that no state shall deprive any person of the right to life, something an abortion clearly does by killing a child.  Standing for Freedom

I suspect the Supreme Court in Washington is following this with interest.

Category: Guns

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A Proud Infidel®™

Yeah, so they decide to say “Well uhhm, you know, uhhmm, we don’t like that icky USSC, so uhhm, we’re going to do what WE want so we can feel special, mmmmkay?”

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

One of two choices;
Either cut Hawaii loose from the US, making 49 states. That would include stopping all welfare and other aid. And I can guarantee, too many in Hawaii are living on welfare aid of one kind or another. Ready to see what it would be like when all the EBT cards are denied? Are Hawaiians ready to go back to living on poi, fish, and pineapple as their staples? Beef and milk? Forgedaboudit.

The other choice might be to “send in the Marines” to arrest the Hawaiian Supremes for treason and insurrection. There’s a base right there, Kaneohe, ready to kick ass and forget the names. That would be fun to watch.

Last edited 13 days ago by President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

And those idiots still revere the same president who ordered us to land the landing force the last time, when we took over the place.

China is no doubt watching what’s going on here

If that happened and the US Navy pulled up stakes they would all be speaking Chinese within a year and screaming they were alight, probably because they would be.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Nah. I think (or at least anyone with foresight and intelligence), let Hawaii go back to being a Kingdom, but keep the US military bases there as (1) forward Pacific bases) and (2) West Coast protection bases.
Like GITMO in Cuba, ya know?

Hack Stone

How did that work out for Puerto Rico when Al Sharpton, or was it Jesse Jackson, led the demonstrations to close that target range. They closed the range, the Navy saw no need to maintain their presence without a range to blow shit up, so they weighed anchor and left. And all those people who worked directly or indirectly for the base lost their jobs. The icing on the cake is when the hurricanes hit, the US Military was not there to dig them out.

Take away their pineapples too.
Pineapples originated in South America.
No more export $ for the production of Pineapples.

Pineapple – Wikipedia

We will sell them all the SPAM they can afford.

USMC Steve

Hawaii and the Federal Government have always hated each other. The US attorney guys over there were always stepping on the state’s dick with golf shoes when they went overboard with their fascism bit. That place is the bluest of the blue and it has gotten worse over the years. If a Kanaka didn’t hack the school thing, they had alternative courses. Hawaiian versus English classes, Hawaiian versus US history classes, etc. Great if you never leave the islands I guess.

5JC

Regan won it in 1984, but that was a historic landslide to end all landslides. We will never see an election like that again.

ChipNASA

Until next week, when Trump wins, we sweep the entire planet and get the house and the Senate and the Democrats. Don’t serve in office for the next 12 years, And even then it’s sketchy maybe we go 16 or 20 years without a Democrat in any significant office.
(My mouth, Universe..)

Hack Stone

Hawaiians on Maui still haven’t spent all of that $700 Joe Biden gave them after the fire. Apparently $700 will rebuild an entire house in Hawaii.

MIRanger

The real question is not how luny the Hawaiian Supreme Court acts, but what United States Federal Government will do to Hawaii in order to reign in the lunacy?!
Cut off Highway funds, and other federal funding?! How about we restrict air traffic to the islands, and require visas to travel to the islands… might dip into their tourist dollars! Then they might wake up. Oprah and everyone else who bought land after the fires might be having second thoughts about the investment!

5JC

Right now? Absolutely nothing. They know it too.

But on January 21st, 2025 I would expect US Marshalls and National Guard to seize the SCOTHI and arrest their members for insurrection. At least if Vox and the Atlantic are correct. If they are wrong then maybe a court order, followed by paperwork, followed by the dissolution of the court if the order isn’t followed.

Last edited 13 days ago by 5JC
KoB

“…read those words differently…” Hmmm “…Shall not be infringed…” Reads pretty straight forward to me. Now…it may sound a little different read aloud in my Southern American language v a Boston Nasal Noise or a Mid-Western Twang. Not sure about a Hawaiian Accent…never been there.

I do like that thar leggy, brunetted, well constructed Ms Thang so there is that. No concealing her weapons.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

The difference between “concealment” and “cover”.

Skippy

This is old news

5JC

Correct and what has happened since?

Green Thumb

The Hawaii SC has always been a joke.

I remember years past when they overturned a lower court’s ruling to let a kid born in Hawaii (non-native) attend the native school system out there (after he has already enrolled and was attending classes) because he was not a 1% Hawaiian.

Clowns.

Graybeard

IMHO, we ought to revoke the statehood status of Hawaii, and establish a protectorate status without self-governance until the current crop of idiots dies out.

pookysgirl, WC wife

Make Hawaii into a territory, and the residents of some lucky U.S. state get to split off from the rest of the state. If California gets to split up, it’d have to be into more than two. So I think the better option would be to make Washington and Oregon into three states, since the interior of those states are trying to do it anyway.

Army-Air Force Guy

The State of Jefferson! Make it happen!

Fyrfighter

Interesting how courts and politicians of a certain stripe, in areas populated by a majority of non-whites tend t not trust their constituents with firearms.. Kinda seems a bit racist to me…

Anonymous

Blue State sh*thole, only tropical… sure, Hawaii Five-O and Jack Lord made it look cool:
comment image

pookysgirl, WC wife

Two questions: What is the Hawaiian Supreme Court smoking? And where can I get some?

Green Thumb

Waialua, baby.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Pa’ka’lo’lo

Forest Bondurant

Chief Justice Recktenwald, and Associate Justices McKenna, Eddins, Ginoza and Devens are dipshits.,