![]() More than 39 years after the fact, on November 10, 1983, a federal judge reversed Korematsu’s conviction, acknowledging the “great wrong” done to him. Peter Irons enlisted a legal team consisting mainly of Asian-American lawyers. Their efforts ultimately uncovered documents that clearly showed the government concealed evidence in the 1944 case that racism-not military necessity-motivated the internment order. He took this evidence to Korematsu, and they both decided to re-open the case. Irons discovered long-forgotten documents that proved that the Justice Department had misrepresented the facts to the Supreme Court. This chance came in the form of Peter Irons, a law professor, researching the internment for a book. I’m an American and just as long as I’m in this country I will keep on going and if there is a chance of reopening the case, I will do it.Īn excellent book to introduce the Korematsu story to grades 7+. In Of Civil Wrongs and Rights, Korematsu says, In December 1944, the Supreme Court ruled against him. ![]() However, the court ruled against Korematsu and he was sentenced to five years probation.ĭetermined to pursue his cause, Korematsu filed an appeal with Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and, later, to the U.S. The premise of the lawsuit was that Korematsu’s constitutional rights had been violated and he had suffered racial discrimination. Persuaded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California, Korematsu filed a case on June 12, 1942. Korematsu was arrested, convicted, and sent to the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah. citizen and the son of Japanese immigrants, had refused to evacuate when President Roosevelt ordered the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. United States that the denial of civil liberties based on race and national origin was legal.įred Korematsu, a U.S. ![]() Fred Korematsu, courtesy of Karen Korematsu and the Fred T. ![]()
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