Cite as: 528 U. S. 495 (2000)
Breyer, J., concurring in result
election to the OHA board is not "the internal affair of a quasi sovereign," such as an Indian tribe. Ante, at 520.
I see no need, however, to decide this case on the basis of so vague a concept as "quasi sovereign," and I do not subscribe to the Court's consequently sweeping prohibition. Rather, in my view, we should reject Hawaii's effort to justify its rules through analogy to a trust for an Indian tribe because the record makes clear that (1) there is no "trust" for native Hawaiians here, and (2) OHA's electorate, as defined in the statute, does not sufficiently resemble an Indian tribe.
The majority seems to agree, though it does not decide, that the OHA bears little resemblance to a trust for native Hawaiians. It notes that the Hawaii Constitution uses the word "trust" when referring to the 1.2 million acres of land granted in the Admission Act. Ante, at 508, 521. But the Admission Act itself makes clear that the 1.2 million acres is to benefit all the people of Hawaii. The Act specifies that the land is to be used for the education of, the developments of homes and farms for, the making of public improvements for, and public use by, all of Hawaii's citizens, as well as for the betterment of those who are "native." Admission Act § 5(f).
Moreover, OHA funding comes from several different sources. See, e. g., OHA Fiscal 1998 Annual Report 38 (hereinafter Annual Report) ($15 million from the 1.2 million acres of public lands; $11 million from "[d]ividend and interest income"; $3 million from legislative appropriations; $400,000 from federal and other grants). All of OHA's funding is authorized by ordinary state statutes. See, e. g., Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 10-4, 10-6, 10-13.5 (1993); see also Annual Report 11 ("OHA's fiscal 1998-99 legislative budget was passed as Acts 240 and 115 by the 1997 legislature"). The amounts of funding and funding sources are thus subject to change by ordinary legislation. OHA spends most, but not all, of its money to benefit native Hawaiians in many different ways. See Annual Report (OHA projects support education, hous-
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