America was not born on a timetable, but it appears that if a new nation-within-a-nation concept of Hawaiian recognition is to be created, the job is slated to be completed by June of 2016.

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright rejected calls to halt the process.

Thanks to the financial backing of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a process is underway so that Native Hawaiians can elect 40 delegates to a convention, or ‘aha, that between February and April of next year would draft a constitution.

“Two months after ‘aha concludes: If delegates recommend a form of Hawaiian government, a ratification vote may be held,” OHA explains on its website.

Seabright ruled that the convention would not be a public organization and would not be making state law, nor would it select public representatives.

The plaintiffs, including Keli‘i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, had claimed the opposite, that state money was going to pay for an election in which only Native Hawaiians were allowed to vote.

They argue that flies in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court Rice v. Cayetano decision, saying the state could not restrict eligibility to vote in OHA trustee elections. Previously only those of Hawaiian ancestry could vote.

Only those of Hawaiian ancestry can vote in the upcoming election to select delegates to the convention, but the Seabright ruling gives supporters the chance to move ahead, although it is expected that Akina and the other plaintiffs will appeal.

If time is short to draft rules for a national constitution for Hawaiian recognition, even more limiting is any sense of unity of purpose behind the calls for Hawaiian sovereignty.

The local process is closely linked to the federal Department of Interior’s efforts to draft rules for what a Hawaiian national constitution could contain. While supporters of the federal rules say there are no restrictions, the preliminary federal rules say no gambling, no touching of Hawaiian Home Lands and no changing the 50 percent blood quantum requirements.

All of that does nothing to tamp down divisions within the Hawaiian community. At one extreme there are those who argue that the actual Hawaiian Kingdom still exists, and there are more moderates who are more concerned about a process to pay for past federal land grabs.

Supporters understand that the timing on this process is still the most urgent component.

The process is moving forward because President Barack Obama, since he was a U.S. senator, has been a strong supporter of bills to enable Hawaiian recognition through legislation sponsored by former U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka.

When U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell recently announced the federal rules, she said: “Today’s proposal is testament to the Obama administration’s strong support for our nation’s native peoples’ right to self-determination.”

It was former President Bill Clinton who signed the Apology Resolution passed by Congress in 1993, so there is some indication that a Hillary Clinton presidency would also look favorably on a process of recognition, but there are no guarantees. And if the next president is a Republican, recognition would be a political impossibility.

So while much of the process is about gaining compromises and succeeding in the courts, for Native Hawaiians to succeed, they will also need to beat the clock.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.