 Aloha! Here is a think-tech commentary on a recent vote of the Hawaii State Senate Judiciary Committee. On July 28, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported that the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against the confirmation of Governor David E. Gay's nomination of Attorney Daniel Gluck to the State Intermediate Court of Appeals. The full Senate will vote on the Gluck nomination this week. Daniel Gluck was raised in Upstate New York. He received his Bachelor of Science in Labour Relations from Cornell University and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2003. He was legal director of the ACLU of Hawaii and is now the executive director of the State Ethics Commission. He is well trained, well qualified and well respected in the legal community. Gluck had been vetted and approved, of course, by the State Judicial Selection Commission and nominated by the Governor. At the hearing however there were comments by members of the committee on the historic and current roles of women, Native Hawaiians and other underrepresented groups on Hawaii's courts. Some members cited the bravery of female lawyers for speaking out against the nomination. Others praised Gluck, who has lobbied and testified before the legislature in his role as director of the State Ethics Commission. State Senator Kurt Fevala, a Native Hawaiian, voted against the Gluck nomination. Fevala cited historic racism and inequality to Hawaiians. He said, we are now the minority in our own state, in our own country. At first, the committee voted to confirm the nomination. Committee Chairman Carl Rhodes, and Senators Mike Gabbard and Chris Lee voted for confirmation. The opposition was Committee Vice-Chairman Jarrett Keohokalole, and Senators Laura Casio, Donna Kim and Fevala. But then the committee somehow changed its mind and voted against the nomination. We don't know why, was it politics, was it racism, or was it both, and was it what we want for Hawaii's judicial confirmation process? The story is disturbing, where a qualified, respected longtime member of the bar and public official is rejected as a judicial nominee because of gender and because of quote historic racism and inequality to Hawaiians' end quote in any event, it all seems very unfair, a remarkable and very negative political and or racial phenomenon in the confirmation of judicial appointees, one that does not engender confidence in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Legislature in general or the courts. Maybe the matter ought to be referred to the ACLU, where Gluck so faithfully served so many members of our Hawaii community. Thank you for your consideration of the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary.