Fate of the Superferry

SUBHEAD: Supreme Court hears case against HSF. By Brad Parsons on 18 December 2008 in Island Breath -

(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2008/12/fate-of-superferry.html)

Image above: Graphic by Juan Wilson

Just reviewed the live blog transcript by Atty. Robert H. Thomas. KKCR and Manao broadcasters, let's get this on the radio. Justices: Please tell us how it is a "class of one" Mahalos to Robert for the following: "Audio Recording of Hawaii Superferry Supreme Court Oral Arguments (mp3)"

http://www.inversecondemnation.com/inversecondemnation/2008/12/audio-recording-of-hawaii-superferry-supreme-court-oral-arguments-mp3.html

Here is an easier audio file to access directly:

http://www.state.hi.us/jud/oa/08/SCOA_121808_29035.mp3

The Court has released the audio recording of this morning's oral arguments in the Hawaii Superferry (part II) case.

Download the mp3 here (caution, it is a 40mb file).

http://www.inversecondemnation.com/files/scoa_121808_29035.mp3

The archive of this morning's live blog of the arguments is posted here:

http://www.inversecondemnation.com/inversecondemnation/live-blog-superferry.html

The briefs in the case are posted here:

http://www.inversecondemnation.com/inversecondemnation/2008/12/more-superferry-round-2-briefs.html Was surprised that there was very little discussion/questions on the fact that Act 2 has no "No Action" alternative on the whole project, a reduction in public rights from Chapter 343 to Act 2. Instead there were a slew of questions from the Justices on whether Act 2 is special legislation for a "closed class of one." From the actual audio file, rather than the live blog reporting, it is clear that Hall did specify points in Act 2 that create the "closed class of one." By the below transcript, it appears that the State was not well prepared for that line of questioning from the Justices. If I have time, I'm going to go through Act 2, word for word, and list all of the conditions, explicit and implied, that narrow this to a "closed class of one." On an implied point, others noted in the live blog that the state had already built the barges and ramps that were made specifically for HSF's exact measurements. Another implied point is that to operate here in Hawaii, the large capacity ferry vessel would have to be built in the United States. There are no other companies with large capacity fast ferry vessels that would have met that requirement before the sunset of Act 2. I'll have to see if there are any other slow large capacity ferry vessels that could have met the domestically constructed requirement, but I think not. These are some of the key implied constraints that create a "closed class of one." I'll go over Act 2 soon for the explicit constraints toward the same.