Korematsu v. United States 1944

• Author: Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
• Pages: 576-581

Contenidos

• Civil Disobedience.
• Military Orders Reign Supreme.
• Concentration Camps.
• Suggestions for further reading.

Page 576

Petitioner: Toyosaburo Korematsu

Respondent: United States

Petitioner's Claim: That convicting him for refusing to leave the West coast during World War II violated the U.S. Constitution.

Chief Lawyers for Petitioner: Wayne M. Collins and Charles A. Horsky

Chief Lawyer for Respondent: Charles Fahy, U.S. Solicitor General

Justices for the Court: Hugo Lafayette Black, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Stanley Forman Reed, Wiley Blount Rutledge, Harlan Fiske Stone

Justices Dissenting: Robert H. Jackson, Frank Murphy, Owen Josephus Roberts

Date of Decision: December 18, 1944

Decision: The Supreme Court said Korematsu's conviction was constitutional.

Significance: In Korematsu, the Supreme Court tacitly approved laws and military orders that sent Japanese Americans into confinement during World War II.

Page 577

On December 7, 1941, Japan brought the United States into World War II by attacking the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan killed 2,043 Americans during the surprise attack and destroyed American warships and aircraft. The next day, Congress declared war on Japan.

After being surprised at Pearl Harbor, the United States feared Japan would attack or invade along the Pacific coast. In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. President Roosevelt said wartime success depended on protecting the United States from espionage and sabotage. In his executive order, the president gave the military authority to define and take control over vulnerable areas of the country.

Lieutenant General DeWitt was in charge of the U.S. military in the westernmost part of the nation. On 27 March 1942, General Dewitt issued an order preventing persons of Japanese descent from leaving the West coast region. On May 3, 1942, General DeWitt issued another order forcing Japanese Americans to leave the West coast region through a Civil Control Station. The combined effect of both orders was to allow the United States to round up Japanese Americans for confinement in internment camps during the war. The purpose of confinement was to prevent Japanese Americans from helping the Japanese Empire in its war against the United States. The United States made no effort to distinguish between loyal and disloyal Japanese Americans.

Civil Disobedience

Toyosaburo Korematsu, who went by the name of Fred, was an American citizen of Japanese descent. Korematsu...