Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Criticizes U.S. Supreme Court in Criminal Case Opinion

A Hawaii Supreme Court justice issued a ruling Wednesday that overturned a 1990 conviction and used the opinion to criticize the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Todd Eddins authored the 91-page majority opinion in State v. Granillo. The court ordered a new trial after finding that hair and fiber evidence presented by an FBI expert relied on forensic methods now considered unreliable.

In roughly eight pages of the opinion, Eddins argued that Hawaii courts should not rely on the Roberts Court when interpreting the state constitution. He wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court has moved away from the principles in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Eddins stated that the current Court revives the reasoning found in the 1857 Dred Scott decision and the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. He listed several recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Citizens United v.

FEC, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, as examples of weakened protections. "A court that systematically dismantles democratic safeguards, steamrolls constitutional liberties, and tramples human dignity does not chart the course for the Hawaiʻi Constitution," Eddins wrote.

The opinion comes weeks after the U.S.

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Wolford v. Hawaii that the state could not require gun owners to obtain property owner permission before carrying firearms on private property open to the public. Eddins was appointed to the Hawaii Supreme Court in 2020 by then-Gov.

David Ige. The opinion drew criticism from legal observers who described the critique of the U.S. Supreme Court as unusual for a state court decision.