The Court, in an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, ruled unanimously that the state had the power to sell the lands free of encumbrances.

Under the Newlands Resolution, the Republic of Hawaii "'cede[d] absolutely and without reserve to the United States of America all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind' and further 'cede[d] and transfer[red] to the United States the absolute fee and ownership of all public, Government, or Crown lands ... and all other public property of every kind and description belonging to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands.'

In the Organic Act, Congress provided that "The portion of the public domain heretofore known as Crown land is hereby declared to have been, on [1898], and prior thereto, the property of the Hawaiian government, and to be free and clear from any trust of or concerning the same, and from all claim of any nature whatsoever, upon the rents, issues, and profits thereof.

In that Act, Congress transferred title to most of the former Crown lands to the state, including the parcel at issue in this case.

The issue was whether the Apology Resolution barred Hawaii from selling land held in public trust to third parties until the claims of Native Hawaiians had been resolved.

The OHA argued that the Apology Resolution changed the relationship between Native Hawaiians and the government and that it restored rights that had been lost in the 1893 revolution.