Hawaii Supreme Court Rejects Redistricting Plan

Nanea Kalani/Civil Beat

The Hawaii Supreme Court needed only hours to decide that the state's reapportionment plan is unconstitutional and must be re-done.

Ruling in two separate lawsuits, the court said the Hawaii Constitution "expressly mandates" that only permanent residents be counted.

"The 2011 Final Reapportionment Plan disregards this constitutional mandate by including non-permanent residents in the population base that the Reapportionment Commission used to allocate the members of the state legislature among the basic island units," the court wrote in rulings issued at 3 p.m. and 3:05 p.m. Wednesday. Both rulings were unanimous, 5-0.

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