Hawaii Supreme Court Approves Manua Kea Telescope

In In re Thirty Meter Telescope at the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, (HI Sup. Ct., Oct. 30, 2018), the Hawaii Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the state's Board of Land and Natural Resources allowing a 30 meter telescope to be erected near the summit of Mauna Kea.  Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners believe that Mauna Kea should be kept in its natural state as a sacred manifestation of their ancestry. Hawaii's Constitution (Art. XII, Sec. 7) protects the cultural and religious rights of the descendants of Native Hawaiians. The Court's majority opinion by Justice McKenna upheld the agency's finding that while Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners use the summit of Mauna Kea, there is no evidence that they use the Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory site area and the Access Way. The Court also rejected appellants' RLUIPA challenge, holding that RLUIPA does not apply to the government's management of its own land. New York Times reports on the decision. [Thanks to  Kuliaikanu'u Petzoldt for the lead.]