The Heritage Foundation is hosting a panel tomorrow on the bill to formally establish a race-based government for people with Hawaiian ancestry. I am told that the White House (via the Justice Department) has put down in writing that it would support the bill if some changes were made and would defend it against constitutional challenge. (If anyone has a copy of that letter, I’d love to see it). The bill has been covered by Rich and Kathryn in their syndicated columns and Ramesh in NRODT (which you would know if you subscribed). But something briefly mentioned in all three, and in the Wall Street Journal (see John Fund, too, btw), bears repeating: If this bill passes, it could serve as a powerful precedent for Hispanic separatists. I don’t usually take this kind of “reconquista” talk seriously, but the fact that the Hawaii bill actually has a chance of passage is sobering; if it does pass, the same principle can be applied to blacks and others — why not a separate government for Muslims, or evangelical Christians or, heck, cat lovers? This isn’t some flight of fancy, but rather a very real threat to the constitutional order.