OHA is a semi-autonomous government body administered by a nine-member board of trustees, elected by the people of the State of Hawaiʻi through popular suffrage. Originally, trustees and the people eligible to vote for trustees were restricted to native Hawaiians. Rice v. Cayetano—suing the state to allow non-Hawaiians to sit on the board of trustees, and for non-Hawaiians to be allowed to vote in trustee elections—reached the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Rice on February 23, 2000, forcing OHA to open its elections to all residents of the State of Hawaiʻi, regardless of ethnicity.