Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Valerie Asato v. Hawaii Government Employees Association, et al.

Paid petition · Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii, No. CAAP-22-0000339 · judgment February 14, 2025


Certiorari denied · January 12, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. W hether the Hawaii Government Employees Association (“HGEA”) breached its duty of fair representation under federal and state labor law by engaging in arbitrary, discriminatory, retaliatory, and bad-faith conduct during the grievance and arbitration process, including hostile actions against Petitioner for filing a prior prohibited practice complaint.

  2. W hether the State of Hawaii Depar tment of Education (“DOE”) violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 7 of the Hawaii Constitution by relying on evidence obtained through an unconstitutional and unauthorized search of Petitioner’s work computer to justify her termination.

  3. Whether the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, and the Intermediate Court of Appeals erred in dismissing Petitioner’s claims without addressing the constitutional violations and procedural errors central to this case, as required by Haw. Rev. Stat. § 91-14(g)(1).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Shawn Anthony Luiz
Shawn A. Luiz, Attorney at Law

For respondent
Keani S. Alapa
Alapa & Otake, LLLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 12 2026
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 03 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
  3. Nov 17 2025
    Waiver of right of respondent Hawaii Government Employees Association to respond filed.
  4. Oct 31 2025
    Waiver of right of respondent Department of Education, State of Hawaii to respond filed.
  5. Oct 16 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 19, 2025)