Essay Korematsu v. United States

Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi were two men who refused to report to the evacuation center when all Japanese people were being forced to relocate. Relocation began in April 1942 and these two men challenged President Roosevelt’s executive order 9066, that stated, “All persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated (Takaki 344).” Korematsu and Hirabayashi were both arrested, convicted, and sent to prison (Takaki 345). Their cases later went to the Supreme Court but the government policy said them getting convicted and sent to prison was a military necessity (Takaki 345). Both were sent to Guantanamo Bay where Mr.Kore challenged the detainment of the prisoners (Takaki 345). Since the Pearl Harbor was

Fred Korematsu, is a natural born citizen with Japanese ancestry who refused to leave his home. He was convicted for violating military orders issued under Executive Order 9066. Korematsu challenged the United States government by saying that the government does not have the power to have relocation orders and

An example of racial profiling that involves both Stop-and-Frisk and DWB is the incident behind Whren v. United States. The incident behind the case involved two black men, Michael Whren and James Lester Brown, in Washington D.C. who were driving a truck through a high drug area. An unmarked police car with two officers pulled up next to the truck that was stopped at a stop sign for an unreasonable amount of time and then sped away at a high speed. The police officers then pulled them over and saw a clear plastic bag. Under the suspicion that it was drugs, they searched the car and ended up finding a substantial amount of drugs. The decision of Whren v. United States says that if a police officer has a reasonable suspicion, he can stop the car for that reason alone. There is no need for a traffic offense because ‘driving suspiciously’ is enough to warrant a stop. While yes, they did see the plastic bag and that was the caused for the search, they stopped them because they were African American men in a high drug area and drove suspiciously. There is no saying that if they were two white men that they would not have been pulled over as well, however, if they were two black men not in a high drug area and drove suspiciously they would have still been more likely to be pulled over than two white men. This shows the underlying problem is not that the law directly discriminates, it’s that the police who enforce and the society who follows it that have biases and stereotypes that

On December 7 1941, The Japanese attacked a naval base on Pearl Harbor. The destroyed about twenty naval ships and nearly 2,400 Americans died. (History.com staff, 2009). It was a Japanese Victory. This surprise attack led the United States to enter the war. (Historyonthenet staff 2000).Americans viewed Japanese as threats.

The majority opinion in the ruling of Korematsu v. United States. The majority opinion in this case was in favor of the United States. The court in this case argued that the executive order 9066 (….WHEREAS the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities….(illinois.edu) was legal because after the bombing of pearl harbor, the general population of the United States was in a state of chaos.

In 1942, during the early stages of the second World War, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set in place Executive Order 9066 in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The executive order allowed American citizens of Japanese descent to be banned from certain areas deemed critical for American national security and granted Japanese internment camps to be used during the war (Konkoly, “Korematsu v. United States”). Fred Korematsu was a Japanese American living in California at the time when the order went into action who was well aware that he would soon be removed from his home as it was in a critical part of the nation but was set on staying in his home. When the order did come for Korematsu to remove himself from his home, he refused and was convicted for disobeying the law. Fred Korematsu knew that if he resisted the law his chances of being arrested and brought to court were very high, but he believed that Executive Order 9066 violated his Fourteenth Amendment and he was willing to risk arrest to protest the violation of his civil

Korematsu was not excluded from the Military Area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire . . . The military urgency of the situation required that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily. Congress put their confidence in our military leaders and decided that they should have the power to carry out the necessary measures. There was evidence of disloyalty on the part of some so the military authorities felt that the need for action was great. The fact that we can look back and see things more calmly does not allow us to say that at the time these actions were unjustified.21

Korematsu argued that the racial exclusion was unconstitutional and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The United States argued that Congress and the President had the power to order and legislate this exclusion based on Article 1 Section 8 and Article 2 Section 2.

During the early 1940’s during the World War II era. The Supreme Court held the Korematsu v. United States, which became one of the biggest Supreme Court cases. The United States. Supreme Court held the conviction of Fred Korematsu, who was an American citizen born in Oakland, California but was also of Japanese descent from Japanese immigrants. Korematsu violated an exclusion order requiring him to submit a forced relocation during the World War II. After the bombing of the Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean by Japan’s military against the United States and the United States entry to World War II. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order on February 19, 1942, the Executive Order 9066 gave authorization to the Secretary of War and the United States as military areas. The issue ,mainly applied to one-third of the land area of the United States and was used against those with “Foreign Enemy Ancestry” which mainly include Japanese, Italians, and Germans. The issue also gave the authority to hold certain people in internment camps, mainly the Japanese. This action by the United States were seen as a form of discrimination. The people who were held in internment camps were forced to leave their homes and were no longer able to work at their jobs, this became a huge impact on the economy as being not being able to work at your

In the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Korematsu v. United States, six votes sided with the government and three votes sided with Korematsu. Korematsu decided to not move from San Leandro, California to a concentration camp, and he was declared that he violated the Civilian Executive Order No. 34 of the U.S. Army.2 The civilian Executive Order No. 34 was the order that commanded all Japanese-Americans to relocate to internment camps. Korematsu rebutted that the order violated his 5th

Rehnquist, as its stated in document 4, the public officials called for Japanese relocation because there was an attack in Pearl Harbor, by people of the Japanese Race. Many American Citizens were paranoid that anyone of the Japanese Race was going to commit an act of terrorism, however the Japanese living in America didn’t do anything wrong. The number one reason Japanese Americans were relocated was so that the Japanese would not commit sabotage, as stated by President Roosevelt in document 5a. The Espionage Act was put in place to protect the act of treason. According to Stanley Kutler, one motive to intern Japanese Americans because the government thought they would gain popularity and power. The government knew people who were Japanese and living in America posed no threat to the citizens of the United States of America. The government just did all of the relocation ,Espionage act for show, and to make the American citizens feel safer. Mr. Justice Jackson stated in document 6 that Korematsu is a citizen of the United States and of California. Korematsu was born in the United States of America, he has never done anything seriously wrong, or against the United States of America. The only “crime” he commited is his parents being born in Japan and him being born in America. He did not commit any sort of crime or any sort of act of treason, he did absolutely nothing

Fighting a war against the oppression and persecution of a people, how hypocritical of the American government to harass and punish those based on their heritage. Magnifying the already existing dilemma of discrimination, the bombing of Pearl Harbor introduced Japanese-Americans to the harsh and unjust treatment they were forced to confront for a lifetime to come. Wakatsuki Ko, after thirty-five years of residence in the United States, was still prevented by law from becoming an American citizen.

Also commonly referred to as The Steel Seizure Case, it was a United States Supreme Court decision that limited the power of the President of the United States to seize private property in the absence of either specifically enumerated authority under Article Two of the US Constitution or statutory authority conferred on him by Congress. The Majority decision was that the President had no power to act except in those cases expressly or implicitly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress.

Mindful of the hardships during war times for all Americans, the Court implies that it is the responsibility of citizens to bear this burden, “We uphold the exclusion order …Not unmindful of the hardships…But hardships are part of war,…the burden is always heavier.” (Korematsu, 357). The hardship of one race seemed to outweigh that of another, no mention is made about the fact that the only race ordered to evacuate by reporting to Assembly Centers followed by indeterminate confinement to detention camps were Japanese Americans. The Supreme Court outlines that this case is about an exclusion order and not racial prejudice, “Our task is simply, our duty clear…we are specifically dealing with nothing but an exclusion order. To cast this case into the outlines or racial prejudice…merely confuses the issue.” (Korematsu, 358) Korematsu was a loyal citizen of the U.S., his loyalty was never attested; nevertheless, he faced charges against him because he refused to obey an order which singled him out because of his ancestry. “Guilt is personal and not inheritable” (Korematsu, 364). The military acted to protect the nation against espionage and sabotage, they were acting in the interest of the nation and at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack time was limited, the loyal could not be segregated from the disloyal. During wartimes however the US Government needs to be mindful that this is a country made of vast cultures, races, religions and the US Constitution

The Supreme Court has had many different places where it was located over the years. There has been a struggle to find a permanent home for the most powerful court of law. At first, the meetings were in the Merchant Exchange Building in New York City. The court then followed the nation's capitol to Philadelphia in 1790. In 1800 the court again relocated to Washington DC. At first they spent their time meeting in various places. The place to find the Supreme Court now is in Washington DC, on First Street located in Northeast.