Korematsu V. United
States
How did this happen?
During World War II, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt
signed executive order 9066, which gave the U.S. military
the power to ban American citizens of Japanese descent
from entering places that were deemed critical to national
security.
The military in the western coast quickly deemed a large
strip of land stretching from Washington to Arizona
“unsafe,” so they quickly placed all those of Japanese
descent in “internment camps”
Fred Korematsu:
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United States-born citizen of Japanese Descent
His family owned a flower shop
Korematsu refused to go to the internment camp
to which he was assigned
In 1942, he was arrested and sent to a camp
He appealed this up to the Supreme Court of the
United States
Who was right?
United States’s Argument:
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Some Japanese-American’s loyalties resided not with America, but with the
country of their ancestors, and since it was statistically impossible to
separate the loyal from non-loyal, they had to group them all together in
internment camps.
They used this to then argue that releasing them from these camps would
be a threat to national security, and that civilians lives would be at stake if
the Japanese were not segregated.
Korematsu’s Argument:
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Korematsu claimed that these camps violated his 5th Amendment right
which is that no one can take someone’s life, liberty, or property without due
process of the law.
He argued that his right to live freely was being taken away, without a legal
process.
Questions Being Argued:
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Did FDR’s executive order infringe on the 5th amendment rights of the
Japanese?
Can our government restrict the rights of a large demographic out of fear for
civilian lives?
Should our government value freedom or security more?
Is it ethical to send a large group from their homes due only to fear of a
race/country?
Are these internment camps a form of racial prejudice?
Supreme Court Decision:
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6-3 majority in favor of United States
Argued on October 11-12, 1944, and decided on December 18, 1944
Stated that legal decisions that affect an entire racial group are immediately
seen to be amiss, but in this situation, in which national security was under
large risk, discrimination was constitutional, as they had proof that civilians
were at risk if Japanese were released from these camps.
Significance
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Created a law precedent that if any case involved the treatment of a large
demographic population or race, it must be investigated with the highest
level of scrutiny.
Recap Quiz:
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During what war did this take place?
What did the U.S. argue?
What right did Korematsu say this infringed?
Who did the Justices side with?
Sources:
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/323us214
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/landmark_korematsu.html
http://constitution.laws.com/supreme-court-decisions/korematsu-v-united-state
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