A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' policy of assisting all Native Hawaiians, not just those with 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood.

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway's 35-page decision came in a lawsuit filed by five men, each with 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood, who say OHA has too many beneficiaries.

They also claimed that money from what's known as the Public Land Trust, which was established under the federal act that admitted Hawai'i as a state, can only be used to benefit those who have at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood.

"We are pleased with the court's decision. Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are elected to do productive work on behalf of our beneficiaries. We remain committed to that objective," Haunani Apoliona, chairperson of the OHA Board of Trustees, said in a news release.

The case was originally filed in 2005 by Virgil Day, Mel Ho'omanawanui, Josiah Ho'ohuli, Patrick Kahawaiola'a and Samuel Kealoha. After Mollway rejected the case in 2006, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in August 2007 ordered her to hear the case.

The case came down to an interpretation of the Hawai'i Admissions Act of 1959.

According to the OHA news release, Mollway ruled the Admissions Act "is not so restrictive."

The judge rejected the lawsuit, saying the OHA trustees "are exercising their reasonable fiduciary judgment in determining how to further the purposes of the trust."