Case Name: Korematsu v. United States
Year: Argued 1944 ; Decided 1944
Result: 6-3 in favor of the United States
Related Constitutional Issue/ Amendment: Did Congress go beyond their war powers; Executive Order 9066; 5th Amendment
Civil Rights or Civil Liberties: Civil Rights
Significance/ Precedent: In time of war or in a specific case of danger towards the united states, the government is permitted to discriminate against one race for "protection". The case had nothing to do with racial prejudice against japanese due to the occurrence of Pearl Harbor earlier. The Japanese citizens of the United States were shipped off to relocation centers. This was the only case in which the Court upheld a restriction based solely on race.
Quote from Majority Opinion: "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, because the properly constituted military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast and felt constrained to take proper security measures, because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily, and finally, because Congress, reposing its confidence in this time of war in our military leaders—as inevitably it must—determined that they should have the power to do just this. There was evidence of disloyalty on the part of some, the military authorities considered that the need for action was great, and time was short. We cannot—by availing ourselves of the calm perspective of hindsight—now say that at that time these actions were unjustified."
“The need to protect against espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights. Compulsory exclusion, though constitutionally suspect, is justified during circumstances of emergency and peril."
6-Word Summary: Nation can exclude races during war
Year: Argued 1944 ; Decided 1944
Result: 6-3 in favor of the United States
Related Constitutional Issue/ Amendment: Did Congress go beyond their war powers; Executive Order 9066; 5th Amendment
Civil Rights or Civil Liberties: Civil Rights
Significance/ Precedent: In time of war or in a specific case of danger towards the united states, the government is permitted to discriminate against one race for "protection". The case had nothing to do with racial prejudice against japanese due to the occurrence of Pearl Harbor earlier. The Japanese citizens of the United States were shipped off to relocation centers. This was the only case in which the Court upheld a restriction based solely on race.
Quote from Majority Opinion: "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, because the properly constituted military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast and felt constrained to take proper security measures, because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily, and finally, because Congress, reposing its confidence in this time of war in our military leaders—as inevitably it must—determined that they should have the power to do just this. There was evidence of disloyalty on the part of some, the military authorities considered that the need for action was great, and time was short. We cannot—by availing ourselves of the calm perspective of hindsight—now say that at that time these actions were unjustified."
“The need to protect against espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights. Compulsory exclusion, though constitutionally suspect, is justified during circumstances of emergency and peril."
6-Word Summary: Nation can exclude races during war