SCOTUS Delays Consideration Of Challenge To Hawaiian Homes Property Tax Exemption (Yet Again)

by Robert Thomas, InverseCondemnation.com

Lost in all the excitement over today's ruling in the the Obamacare case that turned out not to be today, is this little tidbit for those from Hawaii. The Court yet again did not make a decision whether to grant cert in Corboy v. Louie, No. 11-336, which had been scheduled for last Thursday's conference. This is the case asking the Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court's dismissal of a challenge to the property tax exemptions conferred on lessees of Hawaiian Homesteads. The petitioners claim this is an unconstitutional race-based classification, but the Hawaii Supreme Court dismissed for lack of standing (the petitioners had not applied for Hawaiian Homestead leases because they are ineligible to receive them).

This case was originally scheduled for the Court's December 9, 2011 conference, but that was put off when the Court asked the Obama Administration to file an amicus brief, which it eventually did. The petitioners responded to that brief, and the case was put back on the conference calendar for June 21, 2012. Thus, we expected today's order list to tell us whether cert had been granted or denied, but it contained no reference to the case. Mystery solved when the Court's docket entry was updated to reflect consideration of the petition at the Thursday, June 28, 2012 conference. Whether this additional delay reveals anything about whether the Court will grant the petition is anyone's guess.

Given that the last day of the current Term is Monday, June 25, we're not quite sure when the order list from the June 28 conference will be released. But whenever that is, we will bring it to you, so stay tuned.