School sued over admissions policy that prioritizes Native Hawaiians
The group that ended affirmative action at Harvard has set its sights on a Hawaiian institution with a $15 billion endowment.
by Jeremy Yurow, Court House News, October 20, 2025
HONOLULU (CN) — A nonprofit is suing one of Hawaii’s most prestigious educational institutions, challenging Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy, which gives preference to students of Native Hawaiian ancestry in its admissions decisions.
Students for Fair Admissions filed the suit Monday in federal court, arguing that the schools’ policy violates a post–Civil War statute prohibiting racial discrimination in contracting.
The case marks the latest chapter in Students for Fair Admissions’ broader campaign against race-conscious admissions, following its successful challenges to affirmative action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, which culminated in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023.
Kamehameha Schools, founded through the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, operates three campuses across Hawaii and educates roughly 5,400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The institution boasts an endowment exceeding $15 billion and owns 364,000 acres of land, making it one of the most powerful educational organizations in the country.
But its admissions policy effectively excludes non-Native Hawaiian students, according to the plaintiffs, who say in their complaint that applicants with Native Hawaiian ancestry are admitted first, and the school considers other children only if seats remain available.
“Kamehameha admits zero students who lack native Hawaiian ancestry. It considers non-natives only if, after accepting all native Hawaiians, it still has open seats — a condition that Kamehameha makes sure never holds.”
In its lawsuit, Students for Fair Admissions says it has members whose children would apply to the schools, if not for the admissions policy. The organization contends that admission to Kamehameha involves multiple contracts, including application agreements, enrollment contracts and tuition contracts, and that denying access based on race violates federal law.
“Kamehameha can keep its mission, its culture, and its curriculum but it cannot bar children because of their race. Native Hawaiian culture can be celebrated without imposing ancestry-based barriers that exclude white, black, Hispanic and Asian children,” Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, said in a written statement.
The group challenges the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2006 decision in Doe v. Kamehameha Schools, which upheld the schools’ admissions policy by an 8-7 vote. That ruling found that the school’s mission and the special relationship between the U.S. and Native Hawaiians provided valid grounds for the preference.
But Students for Fair Admissions asserts that the legal landscape has changed since then. The organization, founded in 2014 by conservative activist Edward Blum, has made dismantling race-conscious admissions policies its central mission. With more than 19,000 members, the group has emerged as a legal force challenging affirmative action in education, scoring its biggest victory when the Supreme Court sided with it in 2023 to end consideration of race in college admissions.
“While the Ninth Circuit’s 8-7 decision was wrong in 2006, it certainly cannot shield Kamehameha today,” the plaintiff says in the complaint. “Its legal reasoning was abrogated by the Supreme Court in Harvard.”
The 2023 Supreme Court decision in SFFA v. Harvard established that race-based admissions policies must meet “strict scrutiny” — the highest level of judicial review — requiring that such policies serve a compelling interest and be narrowly tailored.
The organization contends that Kamehameha’s policy fails this test on multiple grounds by treating race as a negative factor for non-Native applicants, employing a rigid racial quota, having no meaningful endpoint after nearly 150 years, and relying on racial stereotyping.
“Kamehameha’s race-based admissions policy is illegal. It continues to harm families, like SFFA’s members, whose children cannot fairly compete for admission because they were born in the wrong family tree,” the organization says in the complaint.
It also cites the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Brown v. Board of Education and its own Harvard decision, asserting that segregation in education — even when rooted in historical or cultural considerations — violates fundamental principles of equality.
“Nothing about training future leaders, or preserving Hawaii’s unique culture, requires Kamehameha to block its students from learning beside children of different ancestries — Asian, black, Hispanic, or white," the group says in the complaint.
Princess Pauahi’s will was written during a period of dramatic decline in the Native Hawaiian population, from approximately 124,000 to 44,000 during her lifetime, alongside widespread loss of Hawaiian language, culture and sovereignty.
The schools have long argued that their admissions policy serves a remedial purpose, addressing historical disadvantages faced by Native Hawaiians following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and subsequent dispossession.
If successful, the lawsuit could establish a precedent prohibiting private schools from using racial preferences, even when tied to cultural preservation or historical legacies. Conversely, if Kamehameha prevails, it could reinforce the ability of certain private institutions to maintain such policies under specific circumstances.
Representatives for Kamehameha Schools and Students for Fair Admissions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
* * * * *
PDF: students-for-fair-admissions-v-kamehameha-schools-lawsuit.pdf
NYT: This School Has Taught Native Hawaiians Since 1887. Is That Discrimination? - The New York Times
SA: Kamehameha Schools sued over race-based admissions | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
KHON: Kamehameha Schools admissions under race-based lawsuit Legal analyst Alexander Silvert says that because of the Harvard case, Kamehameha Schools should be concerned. “I think they should be feeling very worried,” said Silvert. “I think the Supreme Court has made itself pretty clear whether we in the public agree with it or not. And it’s going to have an impact in this case because the admissions policy at Kamehameha is very clearly discriminatory, almost to a hundred percent, that non-native Hawaiians cannot be admitted.”
AP: Federal lawsuit challenges Kamehameha Schools' admission policy | Hawai'i Public Radio
HNN: Kamehameha Schools faces lawsuit challenging race-based admissions
CB: Kamehameha Schools Sued Over Native Hawaiian Admissions Policy - Honolulu Civil Beat – “The lawsuit also includes about 10 pages worth of excerpts of threats Blum said he has received since announcing that his group was seeking plaintiffs for this lawsuit. The profanity-laden messages tell Blum to kill himself or threaten to beat him. Others make antisemitic remarks about Blum, who was born into a Jewish family. The lawsuit says those threats are reasons why the identities of Family A and Family B need to stay out of the public eye. The families aren’t listed as plaintiffs but as members of Students for Fair Admissions.”
* * * * *
Students for Fair Admissions Sues Kamehameha Schools to End Race-Based Admissions
Federal complaint filed in the United States District Court for District of Hawaii seeks injunction under 42 U.S.C. § 1981
News Release from Students for Fair Admissions, Oct 20, 2025
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 20, 2025 -- Today, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed a federal lawsuit against the Trustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop d/b/a Kamehameha Schools, alleging that the schools' race-based admissions policy violates 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which guarantees all persons the same right to make and enforce contracts without regard to race.
The complaint is attached.

The complaint details how Kamehameha's admissions system functions as a categorical racial bar because applicants with Native Hawaiian ancestry are admitted first, and only if seats remain available will the school consider any other children. And Kamehameha strives to ensure those leftover seats never exist. SFFA asserts that this practice purposefully excludes non-Native Hawaiian students.
SFFA's pleading draws on settled Supreme Court precedent which holds that private schools may not deny admission on the basis of race and that § 1981 protects every race equally. The suit also cites Rice v. Cayetano (2000) for the principle that classifications based on Native Hawaiian ancestry are racial in nature. Because admission to Kamehameha involves application agreements, enrollment contracts, and tuition obligations, the complaint alleges race-based discrimination in contracting in violation of § 1981.
SFFA ardently emphasizes that it supports Kamehameha's educational mission to serve the children of Hawaii, including those from modest financial backgrounds. The complaint argues that Kamehameha can preserve and strengthen its Hawaiian-language and culture-based curriculum while adopting lawful, race-neutral admissions criteria.
Edward Blum, president of SFFA, said, "Kamehameha can keep its mission, its culture, and its curriculum but it cannot bar children because of their race. Native Hawaiian culture can be celebrated without imposing ancestry-based barriers that exclude white, black, Hispanic and Asian children."
Blum concluded, "America's civil rights laws and Constitution do not permit any public or private school to operate a system in which race or bloodline determines who may be admitted."
* * * * *
E Ulu Koa — Standing strong for Ke Aliʻi Pauahi and Hawaiʻi
News Release from KSBE, Oct. 20, 2025
Aloha nō e ka ʻohana o Kamehameha,
Today, Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit targeting the admissions policy of Ke Kula ʻo Kamehameha. We are ready for this challenge. We are resolved to vigorously defend our admissions policy and will engage every legal and operational resource to protect Ke Aliʻi Pauahi’s kauoha. The facts and the law are on our side, and we are confident that we will prevail. In kapu aloha, we will stand strong together.
We mahalo all our Kamehameha ʻohana and the broader lāhui for your support. We now call on our entire Kamehameha ʻohana to join us for an ʻAha Koa. This gathering will be held at ʻIolani Palace on Tuesday, October 21, at 10:00 a.m. Please wear blue and bring your hae Hawaiʻi, posters, banners, and other expressions of aloha ʻāina.
Other ways you can help:
Visit: https://www.ksbe.edu/ola-pauahi
Sign the petition: He inoa no Pauahi — In honor of Pauahi - Action Network
Share our message with family, friends, alumni, and colleagues
Let us draw strength from our faith in Ke Akua, our ancestors, and in one another. Together, we have the collective resolve to defend Ke Aliʻi Pauahi, her kauoha and Hawaiʻi. E ola koa, e ola ke ea!
Me ke aloha a me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,
Board of Trustees
Crystal Rose, Chair
Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, Vice Chair
Michelle Kaʻuhane, Secretary/Treasurer
Elliot Mills
Chief Executive Officer
Jack Wong