The word is that Sen. Inouye (D., Hawaii) is hoping to sneak the infamous Akaka bill through the Senate in the next few weeks, by attaching it as a rider to an omnibus spending bill. Supporters of this bill have played that kind of game in the past. The bill  has been the subject of a scathing National Review cover story and numerous NRO postings (here’s an editorial condemning it), and has been formally criticized by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as well. It aims to turn Native Hawaiians into an Indian tribe so that racial preferences given them can be more easily defended in constitutional litigation. But Native Hawaiians are not an Indian tribe, and racial discrimination is racial discrimination.