Cite as: 528 U. S. 495 (2000)
Syllabus
to the State, to treat Hawaiians or native Hawaiians as tribes, Congress may not authorize a State to create a voting scheme of the sort created here. Congress may not authorize a State to establish a voting scheme that limits the electorate for its public officials to a class of tribal Indians to the exclusion of all non-Indian citizens. The elections for OHA trustee are elections of the State, not of a separate quasi sovereign, and they are elections to which the Fifteenth Amendment applies. Morton v. Mancari, supra, distinguished. The State's further contention that the limited voting franchise is sustainable under this Court's cases holding that the one-person, one-vote rule does not pertain to certain special purpose districts such as water or irrigation districts also fails, for compliance with the one-person, one-vote rule of the Fourteenth Amendment does not excuse compliance with the Fifteenth Amendment. Hawaii's final argument that the voting restriction does no more than ensure an alignment of interests between the fiduciaries and the beneficiaries of a trust founders on its own terms, for it is not clear that the voting classification is symmetric with the beneficiaries of the programs OHA administers. While the bulk of the funds appears to be earmarked for the benefit of "native Hawaiians," the State permits both "native Hawaiians" and "Hawaiians" to vote for trustees. The argument fails on more essential grounds; it rests on the demeaning premise that citizens of a particular race are somehow more qualified than others to vote on certain matters. There is no room under the Amendment for the concept that the right to vote in a particular election can be allocated based on race. Pp. 517-524.
146 F. 3d 1075, reversed.
Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas, JJ., joined. Breyer, J., filed an opinion concurring in the result, in which Souter, J., joined, post, p. 524. Stevens, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, J., joined as to Part II, post, p. 527. Ginsburg, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 547.
Theodore B. Olson argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Douglas R. Cox and Thomas G. Hungar.
John G. Roberts, Jr., argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Earl I. Anzai, Attorney General of Hawaii, Girard D. Lau, Dorothy Sellers, and Charleen M. Aina, Deputy Attorneys General, and Gregory G. Garre.
497
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