Apology Resolution

United States, November 23, 1993: Congress apologizes to Native Hawaiians Signed by President Clinton to mark the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the resolution apologized for the role of the United States in toppling Queen Liliuokalani in 1893. It is the clearest example here of an apology with no operative teeth: it offered no land, money or new rights, and in 2009 the Supreme Court held in Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs that its whereas clauses could not bear the legal weight a Hawaii court had put on them, calling its wording conciliatory. For Hawaiian sovereignty advocates it remains a useful admission of fact; for others it shows how far an apology can be separated from consequences.