Week Seven: Korematsu vs. United States (1944)
The latest Our American Values series focuses on the US Supreme Court and the role it has played in the struggle for civil rights. This new series has three parts. First, we look at two cases that established the principle of judicial review of actions by federal (1803) and state (1817) government. Second, we look at a series of Supreme Court cases decided between 1857 and 1944. These cases made it easier for governments to deny individuals their rights and so each made the moral arc of the universe a little longer. Finally, we look at a series of cases decided between 1886 and 1983 that moved America forward toward justice. For this new series, we draw on some very short (thirty seconds to four-minute videos) from C-SPAN Classroom.
This week we look at Korematsu vs. the United States (1944) which will be the final case in our consideration of the Supreme Court’s “anti-canon” of decisions that made the moral arc of the universe that much longer by sanctioning some form of discrimination.
Mess line, noon, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams.
“… the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast.”
Civilian exclusion order #5, posted at First and Front streets, directing removal by April 7 of persons of Japanese ancestry, from the first San Francisco section to be affected by evacuation
Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government decided to require Japanese-Americans to move away from the west coast and into relocation camps in the name of national security. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 giving the US military that power. Congress backed up that up with legislation and the US military issued over 100 exclusion and evacuation orders removing Japanese Americans from various areas and sending most, including over 70,000 US citizens, to internment camps. Rather than comply with the order, Fred Korematsu evaded authorities, was caught, convicted, and appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court. He contended that the US Government’s actions violated the 5th Amendment. Although three justices believed that our government had also violated the 14th Amendment, the conviction was upheld on a 6 to 3 vote.
Follow the link below to C-SPAN Classroom for six short videos on the case and related matters. Some of these feature Dr. Karen Korematsu, Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute and daughter of the plaintiff.