The Attorney General of Hawaii ( haw, Loio Kuhina) is the chief legal officer and chief law enforcement officer of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. In present-day statehood within the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the Attorney General is appointed by the elected

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

with the approval of the

state senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

and is responsible for a state department charged with advising the various other departments and agencies of

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

. The Attorney General is responsible for the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

of offenses under state law. The Attorney General can only be removed by an act of the state senate. In rare occasions, the Attorney General serves as

acting governor An acting governor is a person who acts in the role of governor. In Commonwealth jurisdictions where the governor is a vice-regal position, the role of "acting governor" may be filled by a lieutenant governor (as in most Australian states) or an ...

in the absence of both the governor and lieutenant governor from the state for an extended period of time. The office has existed in several forms throughout the history of the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

. It was created by

Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K� ...

and was part of the administration of each successive monarch of the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

. The office was kept in the provisional government, after Liliuokalani and the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

was overthrown, and became a part of the succeeding administration of the

Republic of Hawaii The Republic of Hawaii ( Hawaiian: ''Lepupalika o Hawaii'') was a short-lived one-party state in Hawaii between July 4, 1894, when the Provisional Government of Hawaii had ended, and August 12, 1898, when it became annexed by the United State ...

. A regular part of the American model of the executive branch of government, the office of attorney general was part of the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...

under Section 80 of the

Hawaiian Organic Act The Hawaiian Organic Act, , was an organic act enacted by the United States Congress to establish the Territory of Hawaii and to provide a Constitution and government for the territory. The Act was replaced by the Hawaii Admission Act on Aug ...

and made an appointed office after statehood was achieved in 1959. Though a non-partisan office, in territorial days the office of Attorney General was traditionally appointed from the political party of the sitting

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

who appointed the territorial governor. Similarly in statehood, the office of Attorney General has traditionally been appointed from the incumbent governor's political party, thus far

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

or Democratic. The current Attorney General is Holly Shikada, who was appointed by Governor David Ige on December 8, 2021. The

Hawaii Senate The Hawaii Senate is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President of the Senate, elected from the membe ...

confirmed Shikada's nomination on April 19, 2022.

Agencies

The Attorney General leads a department of 180 attorneys and 500 professional and support personnel. The department oversees various public services. These include administering the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, running the Missing Child Center, Child Support Enforcement Agency, Hawaii Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Hawaii Internet and Technology Crimes Unit, Office of Child Support Hearings, Tobacco Enforcement Unit, among others.Attorney General's Office
/ref> In accordance with Chapter 846E of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Criminal Justice Data Center maintains a registry of sex offenders in the state.Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center Sex Offender Search
/ref> Likewise, the agency provides other criminal history information through the statewide criminal history record information system and Automated Fingerprint Identification System.Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center
/ref>

History

Origins

John Ricord John Ricord (September 5, 1813 – March 26, 1861) was a lawyer and world traveler. He was involved in cases in Texas, Oregon, Hawaii, and California. Life John Ricord was born on September 5, 1813, in Belleville, New Jersey. His mother, Elizabe ...

served as the first Attorney General of Hawaii. He arrived in the Kingdom on February 27, 1844, on the ''Columbia''. He was the first Western-trained lawyer in the islands. The previous year a land dispute by

Richard Charlton Richard Charlton (1791–1852) was the first diplomatic Consul from Great Britain to the Kingdom of Hawaii (1825–1843). He was surrounded by controversies that caused a military occupation known as the Paulet Affair, and real estate claims tha ...

led to a British occupation known as the

Paulet Affair The Paulet affair, also known as British Hawaii, was the unofficial five-month 1843 occupation of the Hawaiian Islands by British naval officer Captain Lord George Paulet, of . It was ended by the arrival of American warships sent to defend Ha ...

. A related case of Ladd & Co. required lengthy arbitration. These cases would consume his entire time on the islands. Within a few weeks he swore allegiance to

and on March 9, 1844, was appointed first Attorney General. In July 1845 he joined the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. On October 29, 1845, the executive branch of the government was formally organized through legislation he proposed. On May 17, 1847, he resigned all his offices, and on June 12 was released from his oath of allegiance, so he could resume his citizenship of the United States. He left August 19, 1847. The office of Attorney General was suspended until the 1860s. His work on organizing the courts was taken over by the second trained attorney to arrive in the islands,

William Little Lee William Little Lee (February 25, 1821 – May 28, 1857) was an American lawyer who became the first chief justice of the Supreme Court for the Kingdom of Hawaii. Life William Little Lee was born February 25, 1821 in Sandy Hill, New York. His fat ...

Revival

On August 26, 1862,

Kamehameha IV Kamehameha IV (Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku; anglicized as Alexander Liholiho) (February 9, 1834 – November 30, 1863), reigned as the fourth monarch of Hawaii under the title ''Ke Aliʻi ...

revived the office and appointed

Charles Coffin Harris Charles Coffin Harris (1822–1881) was a New England lawyer who became a politician and judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii who firmly supported the monarchy as an independent nation. After serving in a number of cabinet posts, he became chief justi ...

as Attorney General. Having an attorney general proved useful on constitutional matters.

Kamehameha V Kamehameha V (Lota Kapuāiwa Kalanimakua Aliʻiōlani Kalanikupuapaʻīkalaninui; December 11, 1830 – December 11, 1872), reigned as the fifth monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1863 to 1872. His motto was "Onipaʻa": i ...

insisted on a new constitution that would restore some of the power to the monarchy that had been lost over time. Harris issued his legal opinion that the king had such a right and produced an early draft. A constitutional convention failed to reach agreement, so Harris got the cabinet to negotiate directly with Kamehameha V leading to the promulgation of the 1864 Constitution.

Controversies

A more modern controversy happened with the failed 1998 confirmation by the state senate of popular sitting Attorney General

Margery Bronster Margery S. Bronster (born December 12, 1957) is a lawyer who served as Attorney General of Hawaii from 1995 to 1999. Career Bronster graduated from Brown University, where she became fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and then Columbia University Law ...

, as political payback for her actions to reform the corrupt Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate whose trustees were friends of various powerful legislators, many Hawaii residents called for the right to elect the attorney general. Several attempts failed to create the constitutional amendment.

List of attorneys general

The attorneys general with dates of service:

Kingdom of Hawaii

Republic of Hawaii

Territory of Hawaii

Henry Ernest Cooper Henry Ernest Cooper (August 28, 1857 – May 15, 1929) was an American lawyer who moved to the Kingdom of Hawaii and became prominent in Hawaiian politics in the 1890s. He formally deposed Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii in 1893, held various offi ...

, 1899–1900 *

Edmund Pearson Dole Edmund Pearson Dole (February 28, 1850 – December 31, 1928) was a lawyer from New England who served as the first Attorney General of the Territory of Hawaii, and argued a case up to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also wrote several novels. Life ...

, 1900–1903 * Lorrin Andrews, 1903–1905 (grandson of missionary

Lorrin Andrews Lorrin Andrews (April 29, 1795 – September 29, 1868) was an early American missionary to Hawaii and judge. He opened the first post-secondary school for Hawaiians called Lahainaluna Seminary, prepared a Hawaiian dictionary and several works o ...

) * Emil C. Peters, 1905–1907 * Charles R. Hemenway, 1907–1910 * Alexander Lindsay Jr., 1910–1912 * Wade Warren Thayer, 1913–1914 *

Ingram M. Stainback Ingram Macklin Stainback (May 12, 1883April 12, 1961) was an American politician. He served as the ninth Territorial Governor of Hawaii from 1942 to 1951. Early life Stainback was born in 1883 in Somerville, Tennessee. His father, Charles A. Stai ...

, 1914–1918 * Arthur G. Smith, 1918 * Harry Irwin, 1918–1922 * John A. Matthewman, 1922–1925 * William B. Lymer, 1925–1928 * Harry P. Hewitt, 1928–1934 * William B. Pittman, 1934–1936 * S. B. Kemp, 1937–1938 * Joseph V. Hodgson, 1938–1942 * Ernest K. Kai, 1942 * J. Garner Anthony, 1942–1943 * Cyrus Nils Tavares, 1944–1947 * Walter D. Ackerman Jr., 1947–1952 * Michiro Watanabe, 1952–1953 * Edward N. Sylva, 1953–1956 * Richard K. Sharpless, 1956–1957 *

Shiro Kashiwa Shiro Kashiwa (October 24, 1912 – March 13, 1998) was an American lawyer and judge who was the first Attorney General of Hawaii to be appointed after it became a state in 1959. He served as a judge of the United States Court of Claims, then as ...

, 1957 *

Herbert Young Cho Choy Herbert Young Cho Choy (January 6, 1916 – March 10, 2004) was the first Asian American to serve as a United States federal judge and the first person of Korean ancestry to be admitted to the bar in the United States. He served as a United State ...

, 1957–1958 * Jack H. Mizuha, 1958–1959

State of Hawaii

* Jack H. Mizuha, 1959 *

, 1959–1960 *

Bert Kobayashi Bert Takaaki Kobayashi Sr. (July 8, 1916 – October 6, 2005) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii from July 17, 1969, to December 29, 1978.Richard Borreca, "Attorney was 'strong right arm' for Gov. Burns", ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' (Oct ...

1962–1969 *Bertram Kanbara 1969–1971 * George T. H. Pai 1971 *Ronald Amemiya, 1974–1978 *Wayne Minami 1978–1981 *Tany S. Hong, 1981–1984 * Michael A. Lilly, 1984–1985 *

Corinne Watanabe Corinne Kaoru Amemiya Watanabe (born August 1, 1950) is an American judge from the state of Hawaii. Watanabe was the first female Attorney General of Hawaii from 1985 until 1986. Early life and education Watanabe was born in Wahiawa, Hawaii, on ...

1985–1986 *Warren Price, III 1986–1992 *Robert A. Marks 1992–95 *

, 1995–1998 * Earl I. Anzai, 1999–2002 *

Mark J. Bennett Mark Jeremy Bennett (born February 24, 1953) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Career In 1976, Bennett obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Union College in ...

, 2003–2010 * David M. Louie, 2011–2014 * Russell Suzuki , 2014–2015 *

Doug Chin Douglas S. Chin (born July 21, 1966) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii from February to December 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, Chin previously was the 14th Attorney General of Haw ...

, 2015–2018 * Russell Suzuki, 2018–2019 * Clare E. Connors, 2019–2021 * Holly Shikada, 2021–present

References

External links

Hawaii Attorney General
official website {{U.S. State Attorneys General 1844 establishments in Hawaii