A Honolulu family suing Kamehameha Schools over its Native Hawaiian admissions policy is asking a federal judge for one basic protection: to keep their names off the public record. Their lawyers say the request is not about drama or strategy, but safety, after a wave of threats and harassment that ramped up as soon as the case went public.
According to court filings described by Honolulu Civil Beat, the two family members are identified only as “B.P.” and “I.P.” and the backlash has been intense. Local attorney Jesse Franklin-Murdock wrote in a sworn declaration that “the abuse stemming from this case to date is extreme even for seasoned civil-rights professionals,” recounting social-media posts naming the lead lawyer’s home address, online messages openly calling for violence, and a package that appeared to contain feces, which was reported to the FBI. The filings say the threats, doxxing, and public targeting have made it dangerous for the family to be named in the case and unbearable for the teen plaintiff.
The lawsuit itself was filed in October by Students for Fair Admissions, the Virginia-based group led by Edward Blum that has launched a series of high-profile challenges to race-conscious admissions, according to AP News. Court records list the case as Students for Fair Admissions v. Trustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and show the initial complaint landed on the docket on Oct. 20, 2025; the public case file is available through Justia. The plaintiffs argue that Kamehameha’s preference for applicants of Native Hawaiian ancestry effectively shuts out non-Native students and violates federal civil-rights law…