PRESENTATION OUTLINE
KOREMATSU VS UNITED STATES
During WWII President Franklin Roosevelt issued an order (executed order 9066) tens of thousands of citizens of Japanese ancestry to move. Soon after that order that they [military] issued another order that banned any person of Japanese ancestry from living in Washington state to southern Arizona.
The military moved Japanese Americans to internment camps for the duration of the war. Fred Korematsu, an American-born citizen of Japanese descent, refused to leave his home in San Leandro, Cailfornia. Which eventually ended up in the hands of the Supreme Court.
The main issue that was questioned during the Korematsu vs United States of was basically "can racism or racial profiling be justified?"
President Roosevelt's executive order influenced this case. Plus, the racial tension during that time also effected the decision.
Justice Hugo Black, speaker of the majority said "all legal restrictions which curtail the civil rights of a racial group are immediately suspect " but "may sometimes justify the existence of such restrictions racial antagonism never can."
However, Justice Owen Roberts did not agree in the verdict and said the relocation "was a euphemism for prison" even con clouding that Korematsu "did nothing" wrong.
Majority of the court (6-3) consented to the conviction of Korematsu.
A scenario that would be similar to the case Korematsu vs The United States is " a black male gets arrest for no apparent reason (racial profiling)"
The conviction of Fred Korematsu was extremely strict. The court (six out of nine of the judges) concluded that he was in the wrong because he had Japanese ancestry. That was the only crime committed which he cannot even control.
