Case Study: Korematsu Vs. United States

Korematsu V. United States On December 7, 1941 the Japanese Imperial Navy launched an attack on Pearl Harbor, the next day Congress declared war on Japan. Public opinion towards people of any “Asian” ancestry turned to racial hatred. Under political and public pressure Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19th, 1942 (Alonso 30). Enter one of the Dark times in American History, the imprisonment of its own citizens because of racial backgrounds. The act was attacked in the Supreme Court case “Hirabayasi v. United States,” though the Supreme Court upheld the order as “A means of National Security in war time” (Touro Law 2). In May of 1942 Fred Korematsu sued the United States. In a 6-to-3 vote the Supreme Court
Because Korematsu believed his civil rights where being violated the Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal. On the 11th and 12th of October 1944, the Supreme Court herd the oral argument of both Korematsu and the United States (Alonso70). Korematsu was represented by Wayne Collins from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), Charles Horsky also with the ACLU; And Morris Opler of the JACL (Japanese American Citizens League).he was also represented by Thomas White (ACLU), though he acted “amici curiae,” or acting on behalf of the ACLU in support of the Petitioner, though not on the case (Touro Law 1). Korematsu’s Side of the case involved several major arguments following the cases validity. The Violation of Korematsu’s Civil Rights, the violation of Korematsu’s and Others of Japanese ancestry rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, and Whether Public law 503 and the Executive Order 9066 where legal and
The case as well the injustice of Fred Korematsu would have faded into obscurity if not in 1981 Legal Historian Peter Irons had not asked the Justice department for access to the case files. The case files containing memos of lawyer who has accused the Solicitor General of purgry, stating the Solicitor General lied to the Supreme Court about the real threat from Japanese-Americans (Bai 38). When asked by Irons, Korematsu agreed to go back to court. In going back to court he became and advocate to the injustice of Japanese-American internment camps in the 1940’s. When Korematsu was offered a settlement offer of a pardon for his crime, but not cleared from his record he refused, saying “ As long as my record stands in Federal court, any American citizen can be held in prison or in concentration camps without a trial or a hearing” (Bai 38). The Judge in the case agreed and ruled Korematsu as innocent and that internment was illegal, the Supreme Court struck down the “bill” and declared it un-constitution. In 1998 President Bill Clinton Awarded Korematsu with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his Principal Resistance. In 2004 outraged at the situation in Guantanamo Bay Involving Arabs, and suspected the same problems with them as with the