498
Opinion of the Court
Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging affirmance. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Waxman, Assistant Attorney General Schiffer, Deputy Solicitor General Underwood, Irving L. Gornstein, and Elizabeth Ann Peterson.*
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
A citizen of Hawaii comes before us claiming that an explicit, race-based voting qualification has barred him from voting in a statewide election. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, binding on the National Government, the States, and their political subdivisions, controls the case.
The Hawaiian Constitution limits the right to vote for nine trustees chosen in a statewide election. The trustees com*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the Campaign for a Color-Blind America et al. by Richard K. Willard and Shannen W. Coffin; and for the Center for Equal Opportunity et al. by Brett M. Kavanaugh, Robert H. Bork, and Roger Clegg.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of California et al. by Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of California, and Thomas F. Gede, Special Assistant Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Bill Pryor of Alabama, John F. Tarantino of Guam, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, Patricia A. Madrid of New Mexico, Maya B. Kara of the Northern Mariana Islands, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, and Hardy Myers of Oregon; for the Alaska Federation of Natives et al. by Jeffrey L. Bleich; for the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate Trust by Carter G. Phillips, Virginia A. Seitz, and C. Michael Hare; for the National Congress of American Indians by Kim Jerome Gottschalk and Steven C. Moore; for the State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations et al. by Paul Alston, William M. Tam, Lea Hong, and David M. Forman; and for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs et al. by Harry R. Sachse, Reid Peyton Chambers, Arthur Lazarus, Jr., Sherry P. Broder, and Jon M. Van Dyke.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Hawai'i Congressional Delegations by Patricia M. Zell, Jennifer M. L. Chock, and Janet Erickson; for the Hou Hawaiians et al. by Walter R. Schoettle; and for the Pacific Legal Foundation by John H. Findley and Sharon L. Browne.
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