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This is a different world, politically and in many other ways, than it was in 2003, when the Native Hawaiian preference admission policy of Kamehameha Schools was first challenged, ultimately without success, in federal court.

But the points being raised today, correctly, in defense of the private K-12 school system remain just as valid, especially given the specific circumstance under which that policy was forged.

Principally, the argument persuasive to federal judges in the past is that Native Hawaiians are part of a political class, not simply a racial designation, due to that people’s sovereign status, a nationhood they have sought to reclaim.

Kamehameha Schools, which now has campuses and programs across the state, was founded in 1887 — four years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom — by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a descendent of the Kamehameha royal line. She wanted to ensure that Native Hawaiian children, underserved by the existing system, would have access to a good education.

The institution’s founding was 11 years before the then-Republic of Hawaii was annexed as an American territory. There is still insulation between the school and the U.S., given that Kamehameha receives no federal funds.

This uniquely complex history has not fended off opposition to the admission policy, including the one mounted most recently by Students for Fair Admissions. The organization, based in Arlington, Va., seeks to end Kamehameha’s preference for students of Hawaiian ancestry.

The group is known for earlier challenges to race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, among other prominent U.S. universities. To pursue the Hawaii case, it has launched a website (KamehamehaNotFair.org) seeking plaintiffs to complain in court about the policy being “discriminatory” and “unlawful.”

Exceptions to the preference have been rare, largely because so many Native Hawaiian students are passed over because there are relatively few spots in the schools.

According to an op-ed published on Page A11 in today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Students for Fair Admission’s founder and president, Edward Blum, argues that Kamehameha’s policy violates a federal law barring any race-centered admission exclusion in private schools.

That would seem to be a solid argument, but it overlooks a crucial political distinction undergirding the Hawaiian institution. As attorney Sherry Broder rightly told the Star-Advertiser, “Hawaiians are a political class, not a racial classification. Just like other native peoples in the United States, they have their own lands, their own schools.”

Nor did the citation of federal civil rights statutes prevail in challenges more than two decades ago. The first of those was settled for $7 million, after an initial ruling upholding the policy in a federal appeals court. Then in 2007, four other student plaintiffs failed to get the policy reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Regardless of how this latest clash plays out, the potential for a new legal case underscores the rationale behind seeking future federal recognition of Native Hawaiians, who have been categorized with Native Americans and Native Alaskans where educational grants and other federal programs have been concerned.

In these circumstances, the trust relationship between the federal government and Hawaiians has been established in law, but having this formalized more definitively would make sense.

Still, Kamehameha Schools leaders are wise to respond now, and with determination, posting their own online petition (www.ksbe.edu/ola-pauahi). In today’s aggressively litigious climate, it is best to prepare early for such a fight.