Ex parte Mitsuye Endo: Breaking Through Barbed Wire ​ Natalie Miller Historical Paper Junior Division Paper Length: 2499 Words Miller 1 Introduction Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, racism against people of Japanese ancestry spiked and the United States government issued restrictions on those of Japanese heritage, regardless of their citizenship status.1 Executive Order 9066 was signed, giving the military the power to evacuate all Japanese-American residents of the West Coast to internment camps.2 The conditions in these internment camps were reportedly worse than prison.3 Frustrated at the violation of their rights, many young Nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans) resisted.4 Three Nisei resisted these orders and their cases (Hirabayashi v. ​ United States, Yasui v. United States, and Korematsu v. United States) were heard in the ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Supreme Court.5 In all three cases, internment was upheld.6 A fourth case, a due process lawsuit challenging whether there were lawful grounds for detention (a writ of habeas corpus), was filed ​ ​ by a Japanese-American named Mitsuye Endo.7 On December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the internment of loyal citizens was unconstitutional.8 Within a month, all internment camps were closed.9 1 Reeves, Richard. Infamy: The Shocking Story of Japanese Internment in World War II. Henry Holt and Company, ​ ​ ​ 2015. 2 Ibid, 54. 3 Ibid, 104. 4 Okazaki, Steven, director. Unfinished Business. Farallon Films, 1985. <https://vimeo.com/ondemand/unfinishedb ​ ​ ​ usiness/300609902?autoplay=1> 5 Daniels, Roger. The Japanese American Cases: The Rule of Law in Time of War. University Press of Kansas, 2013. ​ ​ 6 Ibid, 176. 7 See Appendix A. ​ 8 Douglas, William Orville, and Supreme Court Of The United States. U.S. Reports: Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283. 1944. Periodical. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/usrep323283/> 9 Earl Warren, Governor, “Public Proclamation No. 21,” California State Archives Exhibits, <http://exhibit ​ ​ s.sos.ca.gov/items/show/10617> Miller 2 By convincing the Supreme Court that the internment of Japanese-Americans was unconstitutional because it violated her fundamental due process rights, Endo’s lawsuit accomplished what others could not.10 When Mitsuye Endo successfully challenged internment, the physical and legal barriers that contained citizens behind barbed wire and restricted their freedom were broken. Although the racist treatment of Japanese-Americans continued even after they were released, ultimately Ex parte Endo ensured that no citizens would ever again be imprisoned on the basis of ancestry. ​ To this day, the decision continues to protect the fundamental due process rights of United States citizens. Background Prejudice against East Asians in the United States originated after mass Chinese immigration to the United States during California’s Gold Rush. These immigrants offered cheaper labor, angering white workers who saw them as threats to their livelihood.11 In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, prohibiting Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States.12 However, discrimination and immigration of Japanese continued. In 1906, the San Francisco School Board sent children of Japanese heritage to a separate Chinese school, causing protests.13 The policy was reversed after Japan intervened and President Theodore Roosevelt, not wanting to antagonize the rising world power, opposed the segregation order.14 Despite the 10 Noel, Josh. “Mitsuye Tsutsumi.” The Chicago Tribune. 25 April 2006. <https://www.chicagotribune.com ​ ​ /news/ct-xpm-2006-04-25-0604250259-story.html> 11 “Asian American History” Japanese American Citizens League. Journey From the Gold Mountain: The Asian ​ American Experience. 2006. <https://jacl.org/asian-american-history/> ​ 12 Ibid, Paragraph 18. 13 “Gentlemen’s Agreement” Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 September 2019, <https://www.britannica.com/event ​ ​ /Gentlemens-Agreement> 14 Hosokawa, Bill. Nisei: The Quiet Americans. William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1969. ​ ​ Miller 3 racism they faced, Japanese people continued to immigrate to the United States in large numbers over the decades to come. Like the Chinese, they offered cheap labor in competition with white workers.15 On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base and other targets in Hawaii.16 The next day, the United States declared war on Japan, officially entering World War II. Soon after, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began conducting raids on the homes of Japanese-Americans, attempting to remove “potentially dangerous enemy aliens.”17 These “enemy aliens” were leaders in local Japanese communities or Japanese Americans who worked near military bases.18 In the following months, anti-Japanese sentiment grew.19 On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.20 This order authorized the evacuation of Japanese immigrants from military zones along the West Coast. On March 2, 1942, General John DeWitt, the West Coast Commander, issued Public Proclamation Number 3, requiring that Japanese-American residents of the West Coast conform to a curfew and travel limit. 21 In addition, all Japanese-American employees of the state of California were abruptly 15 “The Yellow Peril” The Commoner, Lincoln, Nebraska, Volume I Number 46, 6 December 1901. <https://chronicl ​ ​ ingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/46032385/1901-12-06/ed-1/seq-1/> 16 President Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” Address, December 8, 1941; Records of the U.S. Senate (Record Group 46) <https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/day-of-imfamy> 17 “Evacuation and Internment of San Francisco Japanese” The Museum of the City of San Francisco <http://www ​ ​ .sfmuseum.net/war/evactxt.html> 18 Ibid. 19 Reeves, Infamy: The Shocking Story of Japanese Internment in World War II, 9. ​ ​ 20 Ibid, 12. 21 DeWitt, John. “Public Proclamation No. 3” United States Army, Western Defense Command. 24 March 1942. <https://calisphere.org/item/0715c52f9388ee98ef4f593af6be7271/> Miller 4 fired.22 They were falsely accused of having dual citizenship with Japan, practicing traditional Japanese religions such as Buddhism and Shintoism, being members of Japanese organizations, and being opposed to the United States government.23 The government assumed that the employees would not contest the charges. However, some of these employees sought legal help through the Japanese -American Citizens League (JACL).24 Soon, the evacuation process was begun.25 Evacuees were given less than a week to settle their affairs. More than a hundred thousand American men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were relocated to assembly centers throughout the West Coast.26 The inhabitants of these assembly centers were then loaded onto busses and transported to remote internment camps.27 In the Courts In early 1942, Saburo Kido, president of the JACL, contacted James Purcell,28 a lawyer, about the Japanese-American employees of the state who had been fired.29 Purcell agreed to take up their case for free.30 22 Miller, E. Vayne and the California State Personnel Board. Letter to Mitsuye Endo. 8 April 1942. James C. Purcell Collection, California State Library, box 3755, folder 6. 23 Irons, Peter. Justice At War: The Story of the Japanese American Internment Cases. Oxford University Press, ​ ​ 1983. 24 Ibid, 103. 25 Reeves, Infamy: The Shocking Story of Japanese Internment in World War II, 65. ​ ​ 26 Ibid, 67. 27 Ibid, 82. 28 See Appendix B. 29 Miller, E. Vayne and the California State Personnel Board. Letter to Mitsuye Endo. 8 April 1942. James C. Purcell Collection, California State Library, box 3755, folder 6. 30 Yogi, Stan. “James C. Purcell.” Densho Encyclopedia. 27 August 2018. <https://encyclopedia.densho. ​ ​ org/James%20C.%20Purcell/>. Miller 5 Shortly thereafter, Purcell visited the Tanforan Assembly Center.31 Purcell was shocked to discover that the conditions in the assembly centers were worse than those in prison.32 This motivated him to file a lawsuit fighting for the release of Japanese-Americans.33 Anticipating that a case challenging the firings of state employees on the basis of race would be dismissed, Purcell instead pursued a habeas corpus lawsuit.34 Purcell felt that a habeas corpus case challenging the ​ ​ ​ ​ constitutionality of interning loyal citizens without providing due process would be more successful than a criminal case challenging the race-based restrictions created by the military.35 To find a suitable candidate for the lawsuit, Purcell surveyed the former Japanese-American employees of the state, with the goal of finding someone without recent ties to Japan or Japanese culture.36 Mitsuye Endo had never attended a Japanese language school, could not speak Japanese, had never visited Japan, and did not practice either of the traditional Japanese religions, Buddhism or Shintoism. Additionally, her brother was serving in the United States military.37 Endo agreed to let Purcell file a habeas corpus lawsuit on her behalf.38 He did so on July ​ ​ 13, 1942.39 Unbeknownst to Purcell, Endo’s case would garner special attention from the War 31 Ibid. 32 Patrick Johnston Papers, “Correspondence on Endo Case,” California State Archives Exhibits, ​ ​ <http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/items/show/10674>. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Irons, Justice At War: The Story of the Japanese-American Internment Cases, 102. ​ ​ 37 Ibid, 102. 38 Tateishi, John. And Justice For All: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps. University of ​ ​ Washington Press, 1984. 39 Purcell, James C. Letter to Fired Japanese-American Employees of the State. James C. Purcell Collection, California State Library, box 3755, folder 5. Miller 6 Relocation Authority’s (WRA) lawyers, as they felt that this case was the most likely to be successful.40 The first barrier in the legal system was presented on July 20, 1942, when Judge Roche, the judge hearing Endo’s case, decided to hear the case during the hearing intended to set the date of argument.41 Purcell was surprised but ready. After hearing the case, Judge Roche seemed in favor of granting the petition.42 However, Judge Roche did not issue his decision until several months later.