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Editorials
Wednesday, January 19, 2000Klein’s departure
leaves court vacancyROBERT Klein's decision to step down from the Supreme Court bench will present Governor Cayetano with an unforeseen opportunity to appoint someone to Hawaii's high court. Coming two years before his 10-year term would have expired, Klein's two-weeks' notice, effective Feb. 1, was a surprise.The issue: Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Robert Klein has announced his resignation from the bench.
After 13 years as a district and circuit judge and eight as a Supreme Court associate justice, Klein will join the law firm of McCorriston Miho Miller Mukai. Klein and partner William McCorriston are longtime friends and former classmates at Punahou.
Klein's departure from the Supreme Court should not have been totally unexpected, since he has indicated a desire to move on. President Clinton appointed him to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1994, but Klein withdrew after his nomination became stalled in the Republican Congress. Since then he has been considered for a trusteeship with the Campbell Estate.
Klein is the only part-Hawaiian member of the court. His most notable act as a Supreme Court justice may have been his authorship of a decision allowing native Hawaiians to go onto private property to engage in traditional religious, cultural and gathering practices.
Klein disagreed with the decision by the other four justices in December 1997 to withdraw from the role of appointing trustees for the Bishop Estate, calling it an "uncharted leap of blind faith." Throughout the Bishop Estate controversy, McCorriston was the vocal attorney for the trustees, who eventually resigned or were removed.
While we maintained that the justices' appointment of Bishop Estate trustees created potential conflicts of interest, Klein's integrity is unquestionable. As a circuit judge in 1986, he rose above the public hysteria of the time to throw out criminal charges of sexual abuse against a Kailua man. The charges were based on accusations by two pre-school girls resulting from leading questions by investigating authorities.
All five of the Supreme Court's justices -- Klein, Steven Levinson, Paula Nakayama, Mario Ramil and Chief Justice Ronald Moon -- were appointed by former Governor John Waihee. For Cayetano to have served two full terms as governor without having an opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice would have been extraordinary.
Klein's replacement, to be selected from at least six candidates recommended by the Judicial Selection Commission, will be Cayetano's only signature on the high court unless another justice steps down before 2002. Cayetano should take extra care in extending his legacy.
More enforcement
and limits on firearmsFRUSTRATED at trying to persuade Congress to enact stronger gun laws, President Clinton now is asking for funds to hire 500 agents to enforce existing laws. Republicans and even the National Rifle Association are likely to endorse the proposal, acknowledging the need to reduce the number of guns on the streets.
Even after shooting attacks at Colorado's Columbine High School and other schools across the nation, Congress last year refused to adopt tougher gun-control measures. Clinton plans again to propose extending Brady law background checks to gun shows, requiring safety locks on handguns, banning importation of large-capacity ammunition clips and banning violent juveniles from gun ownership for life. He also is renewing his request for $10 million to develop "smart guns" that fire only when held by their owners.
Critics of those proposals have complained that existing laws would be adequate if they were enforced. Attorney General Janet Reno maintains that they are enforced. She points to Justice Department figures showing a 25 percent increase from 1998 to 1999 in firearms cases brought by federal prosecutors, rising from 4,391 to 5,500.
"These numbers should put to rest once and for all the gun lobby's phony contention that the government is not enforcing the existing laws," said White House domestic policy adviser Bruce Reed.
The administration is asking for a 20 percent increase in staffing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to focus on criminals who used guns and illegal gun traffickers. Clinton will recommend development of a national ballistics database of firearms identification computer files and making them accessible by state and local law-enforcement agencies.
The possibility of any of those measures passing Congress this year seems slim, considering its past inaction. However, Clinton's proposal to increase enforcement of existing laws will take ammunition away from critics while offering alternative legislation that will be more difficult to ignore.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
