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Gladys Brandt, former principal of Kamehameha Schools, Walter Heen, a retired judge of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, and Samuel P. King, a Senior U.S. District Court Judge, discussed how Bishop Estate trustees should be selected following the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision to withdraw from that role. All three agreed that four of the five justices had acted correctly, with King stressing the ethical contradiction of justices appointing trustees when the same court must later rule on cases involving the estate. The guests, who had co-authored a newspaper article on the subject, recommended that the probate court assume responsibility for future selections, conducting the process openly and drawing on input from native Hawaiian organizations. Brandt argued that candidates should adhere to the Protestant religion as specified in the Princess's will, a criterion past justices had declined to apply. King explained the legal distinction between that criterion for trustees and the federal prohibition on religious discrimination in employment, noting that no court had ruled the Protestant requirement for trustees unconstitutional. The governing question is what criteria and process should determine trustee selection now that the Supreme Court has stepped aside.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
