Corboy v. Louie.

Opinion of the Court by

RECKTENWALD, C.J.

Plaintiffs-appellants are real property owners and taxpayers who brought claims in the Tax Appeal Court against various state and county defendants-appellants, seeking an exemption from real property taxes equal to the exemption granted to Hawaiian homestead lessees under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) and their respective county codes.2

Taxpayers, who are not native Hawaiian, argued that the tax exemptions for homestead lessees involve discrimination on the basis of race in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States…