Executive Order 9066: a Specter of the Past in Today’S War on Terrorism?
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? Tuesday, February 14, 2017 8:55 a.m.–11:30 a.m. 2.25 General CLE or Access to Justice credits EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066: A SPECTER OF THE PAST IN TODAY’S WAR ON TERRORISM? The materials and forms in this manual are published by the Oregon State Bar exclusively for the use of attorneys. Neither the Oregon State Bar nor the contributors make either express or implied warranties in regard to the use of the materials and/or forms. Each attorney must depend on his or her own knowledge of the law and expertise in the use or modification of these materials. Copyright © 2017 OREGON STATE BAR 16037 SW Upper Boones Ferry Road P.O. Box 231935 Tigard, OR 97281-1935 Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Schedule . v Faculty . vii 1. Yasui v. United States: From 1941 to Today—Making the Case for the Constitution . 1–i — Peggy Nagae, Peggy Nagae Consulting, Portland, Oregon 2. America’s War on Terror: Can Our Legal System Prevent History from Repeating Itself? . 2–i — The Honorable John Acosta, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland, Oregon — Sharia Mayfield, Oregon Department of Justice, Salem, Oregon — Peggy Nagae, Peggy Nagae Consulting, Portland, Oregon — Ron Silver, Portland, Oregon — Steven Wax, The Innocence Project, Portland, Oregon Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? iii Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? iv SCHEDULE 8:55 Welcome Michael Levelle, 2017 Oregon State Bar President 9:00 Yasui v. United States: From 1941 to Today—Making the Case for the Constitution Peggy Nagae, Peggy Nagae Consulting, Portland 10:00 Break 10:15 America’s War on Terrorism: Can Our Legal System Prevent History from Repeating Itself? Moderator: The Honorable John Acosta, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Sharia Mayfield, Oregon Department of Justice, Salem Peggy Nagae, Peggy Nagae Consulting, Portland Ron Silver, Portland Steven Wax, The Innocence Project, Portland 11:30 Adjourn Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? v Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? vi FACULTY The Honorable John Acosta, U.S. District Court, District of Oregon, Portland. Judge Acosta was appointed a magistrate judge for the United States District of Oregon on March 5, 2008, and maintains chambers in Portland. Prior to his appointment, Judge Acosta served as Senior Deputy General Counsel for TriMet, the public transportation authority for metropolitan Portland, and before that he was in private practice in Portland and Alaska. Sharia Mayfield,Oregon Department of Justice, Salem. Ms. Mayfield is an attorney with the Oregon Department of Justice. She worked for two years as an intelligence fellow and adviser for Senator Ron Wyden. She has appeared on Fox Business and been published in the UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal. Ms. Mayfield coauthored with her father, Brandon Mayfield, Improbable Cause: The War on Terror’s Assault on the Bill of Rights, a book about his wrongful arrest and governmental overreach. Peggy Nagae, Peggy Nagae Consulting, Portland. Ms. Nagae founded her consulting practice in 1991. Prior to starting her own company, Ms. Nagae practiced law as a trial attorney, served as the Director of Associates for a Seattle-based litigation firm, and held the position of Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Oregon School of Law. Ron Silver, Portland. Mr. Silver recently retired from the U.S. Attorney’s Office after 33 years and handled many civil rights cases during his career. The Oregon Trial Lawyers Association awarded him its Public Justice Award for his enforcement of the federal Fair Housing Act. He has taught the history of the civil rights movement in Oregon and Washington schools and numerous federal agencies. He has also led student groups to Mississippi and Alabama to study the movement firsthand. Steven Wax, The Innocence Project, Portland. Mr. Wax served as Oregon’s Federal Public Defender from 1983 to 2014 and was one of the longest-serving public defenders in the country. Mr. Wax and his federal defender team successfully represented six men formerly held as “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo. He has taught at Lewis & Clark Law School, serves as an ethics prosecutor for the Oregon State Bar, and lectures throughout the country. Mr. Wax is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Kafka Comes to America, his book about his work representing Portland attorney Brandon Mayfield and the men in Guantanamo, has won four national awards, including the prestigious ABA Silver Gavel. Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? vii Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? viii Chapter 1 Yasui v. United States: From 1941 to Today— Making the Case for the Constitution PEGGY NAGAE Peggy Nagae Consulting Portland, Oregon Contents “Five of the Greatest: A Tribute to Outstanding Lawyers in Colorado History—Minoru Yasui” . 1–1 Minoru Yasui v. United States, 320 U.S. 115, 63 S.Ct. 1392, 87 L.Ed. 1793 (1943) . 1–7 Kiyoshi Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U.S. 81, 63 S.Ct. 1375, 87 L.Ed. 1774 (1943) . 1–9 Toyosaburo Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 65 S.Ct. 193, 89 L.Ed. 194 (1944) . 1–25 United States District Judge Belloni’s 1984 Order in Yasui Vacating Conviction . .1–41 Hirabayashi v. U.S., 828 F.2d 591 (C.A.9 (Wash.), 1987) . .1–43 Memorandum in Support of Minoru Yasui’s Nomination for a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom. 1–63 House Bill 4009 (2016) (Introduced) . 1–77 Chapter 1—Yasui v. United States: From 1941 to Today—Making the Case for the Constitution Executive Order 9066: A Specter of the Past in Today’s War on Terrorism? 1–ii Chapter 1—Yasui v. United States: From 1941 to Today—Making the Case for the Constitution Five of the Greatest: A Tribute to Outstanding Lawyers in Colorado History Minoru Yasui1 Minoru Yasui, the third son of Masuo and Shidzuyo Yasui, was born on October 19, 1916, in Hood River, Oregon. He attended school in Hood River and graduated valedictorian from high school in 1933. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1937 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Min, as he liked to be called, received his law degree with honors from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1939 and became the first Japanese-American graduate of that institution. He was admitted to practice law in Oregon in that same year, but was unable to find employment with any of the established law firms in Oregon. In 1940, Min accepted a position as a Consular attaché for the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago. He wrote letters and speeches and performed other work requiring the use of English. Immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941, Min resigned his position with the Consulate and returned to Oregon, where he volunteered for the U.S. Army. Min had been commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves after graduating from the University of Oregon, where he had been a ROTC cadet. He received orders to report to Fort Vancouver in Washington, but upon reporting was told that his services would not be accepted because of his ancestry. Returning to Oregon after his rejection by the U.S. Army, Min opened a law practice in Portland to help those members in the community of Japanese descent during the chaotic and turbulent times immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time, Min was the only practicing attorney of Japanese ancestry in Oregon. He was inundated with requests for legal assistance from the Japanese-American community. Test Case On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.1 Approximately one month later, Lt. General John L. DeWitt, Military Commander of the Western Defense Command, issued Public Proclamation No. 3.2 This order imposed travel restrictions and a curfew for German, Italian, and Japanese nationals. However, the Proclamation applied to American citizens of Japanese descent as well, but not American citizens of German or Italian ancestry. Min viewed this order as unlawful discrimination based on racial grounds and a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. Min volunteered himself to become the test case to challenge these restrictions. On March 28, 1942, Min deliberately violated Public Proclamation No. 3. He left his law office at 8:00 P.M. that evening and walked the streets of Portland, Oregon, in clear violation of the curfew imposed by Public Proclamation No. 3. Min had instructed his secretary to call the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Portland police to let them know that he would be out on the streets that evening. After wandering around for a couple of hours, he finally spotted a policeman and approached him. Min insisted that the patrolman arrest him for the curfew violation and showed him a copy of the Public Proclamation. The patrolman refused. Min finally went directly to the Portland police station, where he was arrested. After spending the weekend in jail, he was released on bail. Min’s trial began on June 12, 1942, before Judge James Alger Fee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. 1 Reproduced by permission of the Colorado Bar Association from Vol.