opportunity for the Supreme Court to resolve all standing questions. On March 3, 2006, the plaintiffs filed a Conditional Cross-Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, asking the Supreme Court, if it granted the Governor's petition, to also grant theirs, and review all the "standing" orders including those dismissing plaintiffs' "very important and fundamental" trust beneficiary standing, as well as the orders restricting their state taxpayer standing. On March 7, 2006, the plaintiffs filed a Brief in Opposition to the governor, pointing out that they did not sue "simply because they pay taxes", but because the state does not treat all taxpayers equally. It singles out plaintiffs and other taxpayers similarly situated and denies them the benefit of the part of their taxes used exclusively for those of the favored racial ancestry. On March 9, 2006, twenty states filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the governor's petition. They argued that "certiorari is necessary to restore certainty to the law". On May 8, 2006, the Solicitor General filed a brief for the United States in opposition to the cross petition, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because the U.S. "does not require the State of Hawaii to impose taxes to support those undertakings". As to Plaintiffs' trust beneficiary claims, the Solicitor General argued that the HHCA and Admission Act "extinguished any trustee role that the United States might once have had". The plaintiffs filed their reply brief on May 17, 2006. Aloha for All In 1999 Burgess and his wife created the Aloha for All website to spread their message that every citizen of Hawaii is entitled to the equal protection of the laws whatever his or her ancestry. In 2003, former Honolulu Advertiser publisher Thurston Twigg-Smith founded a limited liability corporation called Aloha for All. On August 14, 2005, Honolulu Advertiser reported that Burgess was both lead attorney for Aloha for All and legal counsel for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a second non-profit that had lobbied against the Akaka Bill. In response, both Burgess and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii stated that Burgess was a member but had never been legal counsel for the Grassroot Institute, and that Grassroot's role with respect to the Akaka bill had been to foster public education and discourse. References Hawaii lawyers 1929 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American lawyers