Many in Hawaii have mixed feelings about Attorney General Doug Chin’s multiple lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban.
Most don’t argue the substance; discrimination against people based on their religion is abhorrent to our country’s values, and Trump’s policy has been denounced by many GOP leaders as well as Democrats.
The concern is more about Chin rushing Hawaii to the front of the parade instead of simply supporting larger states with greater resources that were making the same fight.
The lawsuits cost $150,000 paid to a Washington, D.C., law firm, plus the diversion of state legal staff from working on other priorities.
Given Hawaii’s heavy reliance on federal dollars, there’s also a potential cost in going out of our way to provoke a president well known for his spitefulness.
Both Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions have disparaged Hawaii as a result of the lawsuits.
Some question Chin’s political motives in his pursuit of a higher public profile.
If Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui follows through on resigning to run for Maui mayor, Chin would be in line for the job until the next election if Senate President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Scott Saiki decline, as expected.
With the crowded race he’d face to hold the office beyond 2018, the visibility he’s gained in battling Trump is a valuable asset.
In the end, I came to the view that the principle here is more important than the nitpicking and gave Chin the benefit of the doubt.
The state won significant modifications to the Trump travel ban in its two visits to a conservative Supreme Court, suggesting the case had legal foundations.
Though the court refused to stop the travel ban on six Muslim nations altogether, the justices agreed Trump was wrong to ban travelers with close family ties or other solid U.S. connections.
After the president narrowly construed family ties to exclude grandparents and grandchildren, brothers- and sisters-in-law and fiances, Chin sued again and won a broader definition of family.
My grandchildren will have to live with the world we’re making a lot longer than I will, and I often seek their perspectives on these issues.
When I asked my granddaughter, a high school freshman of hapa heritage, about those who argue the Muslim ban isn’t Hawaii’s fight because of our small Muslim population, she wasn’t having it.
She said Hawaii is a community of minorities — racial and otherwise — and an attack on one minority is an attack on all.
“I’m glad to know that our state isn’t afraid to stick up for our rights,” she said.
Not to mention that a policy claiming she and I don’t qualify as close family is asinine.
If the president tries to punish Hawaii for speaking out, it’ll reflect badly on him more than us.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
