Rice v. Cayetano

Summary

The Supreme Court held that Hawaii's restriction barring citizens from voting in Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee elections unless they are of Hawaiian ancestry violates the Fifteenth Amendment, which prohibits race-based voting qualifications. Ancestry can serve as a proxy for race, and this scheme excludes certain citizens from the franchise on account of race. Justice Stevens, dissenting, would have upheld the scheme based on the federal trust relationship with native Hawaiians analogous to Indian tribes.