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Fred Korematsu and His Fight for Justice

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Fred Korematsu and His Fight for Justice Fred Korematsu and His Fight for Justice NAPABA National Convention Washington, D.C. November 3, 2017 CLE Materials Table of Contents Page Timed Agenda 1 Chronology 2 Executive Order 9066 5 Lt. Cmdr. K.D. Ringle, U.S. Navy, Report on Japanese Question, dated January 26, 1942, with Transmittals (reproduction) 8 Gen. John L. DeWitt, Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast, 1942 (1943) (excerpts) 15 Edward J. Ennis, Memorandum for the Solicitor General, Re: Japanese Brief, dated April 30, 1943 40 J. Edgar Hoover, Memorandum to the Attorney General, Re: Reported Bombing and Shelling of the West Coast, dated February 7, 1944 44 Transcript of Judge Patel's Ruling from the Bench, November 10, 1983 45 Bibliography 54 Speaker Bios 56 Timed Agenda Minutes The Reenactment I. Introduction 1 II. Background 5 III. The Trial 14 IV. The Supreme Court A. The Argument 10 B. The Decision 10 V. The Coram Nobis Proceedings 10 VI. Redress 4 VII. Aftermath 4 VIII. Conclusion 2 Total 60 Discussion and Q&A 15 Grand Total 75 1 Chronology January 30, 1919 Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu is born in Oakland, California. 1940 The Selective Service Act of 1940 is passed, establishing America’s first peacetime draft. In the draft’s first year, 3,500 Nisei -- second- generation Japanese-Americans born in the United States -- are drafted. December 7, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The United States is drawn into World War II. The FBI arrests 1,300 Issei -- first-generation Japanese immigrants -- leaders identified purportedly as potentially dangerous enemy aliens. January 5, 1942 Nisei are reclassified as aliens ineligible for the draft. February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced exclusion of all persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. March 21, 1942 Congress passes legislation making violation of military orders issued pursuant to E.O. 9066 a crime. March to August, All persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast of the United 1942 States are forced to leave their homes and businesses and move to temporary detention centers -- and eventually to internment camps. More than 110,000 Japanese-Americans are expelled from the West Coast; they lose approximately $6-10 billion in property and income. May 3, 1942 Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 is issued ordering exclusion of persons of Japanese ancestry from the area where the Korematsu family resided. Fred’s family reports as ordered five days later, without Fred. May 30, 1942 Fred is arrested in San Leandro, California. June 12, 1942 Formal charges are filed against Fred for remaining in the area in violation of Executive Order No. 34. September 8, 1942 Fred is tried and found guilty as charged in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. January 28, 1943 Nisei are permitted to volunteer for military service. February 19, 1943 Ninth Circuit hears oral argument from counsel for Fred, Minoru Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi. 2 June 1, 1943 Supreme Court determines that Fred’s conviction can be appealed, and decides Hirabayashi and Yasui. December 2, 1943 Ninth Circuit affirms Fred’s conviction. January 20, 1944 The draft is reinstituted for all Nisei, including those interned at camps. February 2, 1944 Fred’s petition for certiorari is filed with the Supreme Court. March 27, 1944 Certiorari is granted in Fred’s case. June 6, 1944 D-Day -- The Allied Forces land at Normandy. October 11, 1944 Oral argument is held before the Supreme Court in Fred’s case. December 17, 1944 The War Department announces that Japanese Americans who have passed loyalty screening are free to leave camps after January 2, 1945. December 18, 1944 The Supreme Court issues Korematsu, upholding Executive Order 9066 and the Army’s exclusion of Japanese-Americans. May 28, 1945 Fred’s parents return to Oakland from Topaz. August 11, 1945 V-J Day -- Japan surrenders. September 2, 1945 World War II formally ends. October 12, 1946 Fred marries Kathryn. December 24, 1947 President Harry S. Truman pardons all wartime draft resisters, including the Nisei resisters from Heart Mountain and other camps. 1952 Congress enacts the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, which includes allowances for Issei naturalization. February 17, 1954 Fred’s father becomes a U.S. citizen. February 19, 1976 President Gerald R. Ford issues Proclamation 4417 repealing Executive Order 9066. July 31, 1980 President Jimmy Carter signs legislation establishing the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (the “Commission”) to investigate incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. January 1982 Fred meets Professor Peter Irons. 3 January 19, 1983 Fred’s legal team files his petition for a writ of error coram nobis. February 1983 The Commission issues report entitled “Personal Justice Denied.” June 16, 1983 The Commission issues recommendation. November 10, 1983 Judge Marilyn Hall Patel conducts hearing on Fred's petition and rules from the bench. April 19, 1984 Judge Patel issues her formal written opinion. August 10, 1988 President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act, providing a formal apology from the government and redress of $20,000 to each survivor incarcerated under Executive Order 9066. January 15, 1998 Fred receives the Presidential Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton. March 30, 2005 Fred dies at the age of 86. September 23, 2010 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs legislation recognizing Fred’s birthday as “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in California. It is the first time in U.S. history that a day has been named for an Asian American. May 20, 2011 Acting Solicitor General Neal Kumar Katyal posts “Confession of Error: The Solicitor General’s Mistakes During the Japanese-American Internment Cases” on Department of Justice website. 4 5 6 7 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 8 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 9 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 10 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 11 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 12 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 13 Ringle Report and Transmittals (Reproduction) 14 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 15 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 16 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 17 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 18 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 19 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 20 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 21 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 22 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 23 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 24 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 25 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 26 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 27 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 28 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 29 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 30 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 31 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 32 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 33 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 34 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 35 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 36 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 37 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 38 Excerpts from General DeWitt's Final Report 39 40 41 42 43 44 34 of law, and although they might relate to the threshold 2 question of whether ·the petitioner's petition could be 3 entertained, they don't relate to the underlying question 4 whichr if it isn't a legal matter, certainly a symbolic 5 matter with which we completely agree with Mr. Korematsu 6 and Mr. Minami, and that is that irrespective of specific 7 proofs or facts, there is justification in light of the 8 history of this republic and the efforts that it has made 9 since that mistake, as the President of the United States 10 dGscribed it was made, which justifies vacating the 11 conviction and dismissing the petition. 12 Thank you, Your Honor. 13 THE COURT: Is the matter submitted for the Court' 3 14 ruling? · 15 MR. MINAMI: Yes, Your Honor. 16 MR. STONE: That means the Court would deny us 17 any leave to file anything further? 18 THE COURT: Yes, and the reasons for that are as 19 follows: The government has essentially responded with a 2o non-response. It has not set forth or sought to set forth 21 any objections to the offers made by the petitioner with ~ respect to the various exhibits, citations to various 23 authorities, including those contained in its most recent 24 filing and appendices, even though it has had time to do 25 so. Transcript of Judge Patel's Ruling from the Bench on November 10, 1983 45 35 What it has sought to do, in a very meek kind of, 2 response, is to say that "It should be set aside, we agree 3 with the ultimate result. We were not prepared to confess 4 error or to acknowledge that any of the errors contained, 5 alleged in the petition, are true." 6 It leaves the Court in a very difficult position, 7 because essentially I have to make a determination as to 8 whether there was just cause to grant the petition. 9 I am not inclined to conduct full-blown hearings for 10 the purpose of having evidence that meets the niceties of 11 the :Federal Rules of Evidence in order to support a 1l finding which all parties agree would be appropriate by 13 this Cour·t. 14 However, I do have an obligation, as I indicated 15 earlier and is supported by both the Young case and the 16 Sibron case to make an independent determination of whether 17 the petition should be granted and the reasons for granting 18 it.
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