Korematsu vs. the United States
Abstract
I chose the landmark case of Korematsu v. United States for this research paper. Back on December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked US Naval forces in Pearl Harbor located in Hawaii. The next day the US declared war on Japan and everyone was in a panic wondering what would happen next. The United States joined World War II and all Japanese and Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and put into camps, because the US government was afraid that there could spies or that the people with a Japanese heritage could turn against America. Executive Order 9066 was put into place by President Roosevelt and this order made it possible to put anyone from full Japanese to even 1/16th into special facilities where they were seclude from the general population. Was the Executive Order unconstitutional or not? Fred Korematsu was a native born citizen of the US, but was of Japanese heritage and he was convicted on September 8, 1942 of being in a place where Japanese weren’t allowed. Korematsu then brought forth a petition to take away his conviction due to government misconduct. Eventually, the case reached the Supreme Court and in a 6-3 vote they sided with the government, because they said that the potential spying and espionage was more important than Korematsu’s Constitutional rights. From my research I have concluded that even though Korematsu got his case overturned in 1984 because of untruthful information it was still unfair that it is still deemed Constitutional that there were internment camps for Japanese-Americans. Amendments 1, 4, 5, 8, 13, 14, and 15 of the United States Constitution were all violated and I will explain why in this paper.
The Korematsu v. United States was argued on October 11 and 12, 1944 and was decided on December 18, 1944 (Touro College, 1997). Justice Black delivered the Court 's opinion. Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American citizen was arrested and convicted of staying in a "Military Area" in San Leandro, California
I chose the landmark case of Korematsu v. United States for this research paper. Back on December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked US Naval forces in Pearl Harbor located in Hawaii. The next day the US declared war on Japan and everyone was in a panic wondering what would happen next. The United States joined World War II and all Japanese and Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and put into camps, because the US government was afraid that there could spies or that the people with a Japanese heritage could turn against America. Executive Order 9066 was put into place by President Roosevelt and this order made it possible to put anyone from full Japanese to even 1/16th into special facilities where they were seclude from the general population. Was the Executive Order unconstitutional or not? Fred Korematsu was a native born citizen of the US, but was of Japanese heritage and he was convicted on September 8, 1942 of being in a place where Japanese weren’t allowed. Korematsu then brought forth a petition to take away his conviction due to government misconduct. Eventually, the case reached the Supreme Court and in a 6-3 vote they sided with the government, because they said that the potential spying and espionage was more important than Korematsu’s Constitutional rights. From my research I have concluded that even though Korematsu got his case overturned in 1984 because of untruthful information it was still unfair that it is still deemed Constitutional that there were internment camps for Japanese-Americans. Amendments 1, 4, 5, 8, 13, 14, and 15 of the United States Constitution were all violated and I will explain why in this paper.
The Korematsu v. United States was argued on October 11 and 12, 1944 and was decided on December 18, 1944 (Touro College, 1997). Justice Black delivered the Court 's opinion. Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American citizen was arrested and convicted of staying in a "Military Area" in San Leandro, California
References: Chemerinsky, Erwin. "Korematsu v. United States: A Tragedy Hopefully Never to Be Repeated - Pepperdine Law Review." Pepperdine Law Review. Digital Commons, 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 03 May 2014. http://pepperdinelawreview.com/korematsu-v-united-states-a-tragedy-hopefully-never-to-be-repeated/ FindLaw. (2004). U.S. Supreme Court. Toyosaburo Korematsu v. UNITED STATES, 323 U.S. 214 (1944). Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=323&invol=214 Jackson, Robert. "Fred Korematsu." The Robert H. Jackson Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014. http://www.roberthjackson.org/the-man/speeches-articles/articles/remembering-korematsu/fred-korematsu/ Konkoly, Toni. "Famous Dissents." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/landmark_korematsu.html Randall, Vernellia R. (2004, April 11). Internment of Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps. Retrieved April 17, 2014, from http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/intern01.htm#Korematsu Smart, Chris. "Rights Violated to Japanese Americans." Rights Violated to Japanese Americans. Senate Publication 1028-s ( P. 30-34), 02 May 2000. Web. 01 May 2014. http://online.sfsu.edu/jaintern/rightsviolated.html Touro College. (1997). Korematsu v. United States. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://tlc-patch.tourolaw.edu/patch/CaseSummary.asp#Korematsu