1.

The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution states: No person shallbe deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. By subjecting Japanese and Japanese Americans to internment as a group, the United States has denied them due process of law. Proper due process requires individuals to be proven guilty through individual, established procedures.

2.

The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution states: No State shalldeny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Though the Fourteenth Amendment refers to states, it also applies (through the Fifth Amendment) to the federal government. The government is obliged to provide equal rights; if the rights of a particular racial group are taken away, the reason for doing so must pass the highest scrutiny possible.

3.

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the President the power as commander in chief of the military. Commanding the military includes issuing orders as necessary to help the military carry out its duties to protect the nation. Such orders include Executive Order 9066, which expressly allowed restrictions on the movement and presence of groups of people in certain areas of the country.

4.

German Americans and Italian Americans were treated differently from the Japanese during World War II. Though some were interned and suffered discriminatory treatment, they were not gathered up en masse without hearing or evidence as the Japanese were.

5. 6.

It is impossible for the Supreme Court to confirm or deny the military authorities claim that it was impossible to quickly separate out disloyal and dangerous Japanese or Japanese Americans. In Hirabayashi v. United States (1943), the Supreme Court supported the conviction of a Japanese American who violated a curfew order imposed through the same presidential Executive Order and Congressional Act at issue in this case.

7. 8. 9.

When our shores are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect should be commensurate with the threatened danger. No Japanese or Japanese American had been accused of or convicted for espionage or sabotage in the months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of internment. Approximately 5,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry refused to swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and to renounce allegiance to the Japanese Emperor.

10. In the American legal system, guilt is personal and not inheritable. There was no evidence that Fred Korematsu engaged in any subversive or conspiratorial activity. 11. The armed services must protect a society, not merely its Constitution. 12. We may not be able to confine military actions to the boundaries of the Constitution, but that does not mean that the Constitution should be distorted to approve of all the military deems expedient. 13. If the Supreme Court issues a ruling supporting racial discrimination in this case, it becomes a principle for supporting racial discrimination in any case where an urgent need is claimed. 14. Under the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, which remains in effect today, the U.S. may apprehend, intern and otherwise restrict the freedom of alien enemies upon declaration of war or actual, attempted or threatened invasion by a foreign nation.

korematsu v. us

Fred Korematsu v. United States is the primary supreme court case that deals with whether or not the Japanese Internment, Executive Order 9066, was constitutional. Fred Korematsu was an AMerican born citizen of Japanese ancestry living in Southern California. He knowingly deified Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34, ordering the Japanese American population to leave their homes and meet at a designated location for transport, on the basis that it violated his 5th Amendment rights. The 5th Amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; since none of the internees were tried in court by a jury of their peers they did not receive their 5th amendment right. Korematsu was arrested and convicted for violating Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34, and his case became so controversial that it made it all the way to The Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court Trial Korematsu that the Japanese Internment violated his rights as an American Citizen. He also argued that he was guaranteed full right of a citizen by the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to anyone born in The United States even if their parents are immigrants. Korematsu continued to argue claiming that the government had no probable cause leading to his arrest, he had not committed a crime, nor had he been suspected of committing a crime. Even the military who arrested him said that they had no doubt that he was a loyal American citizen. In fact, not a single Japanese American was suspected for or charged with sabotage or espionage in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Internment. In his closing statement he points out that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of Racial Discrimination here, the precedent is set for the government to arrest citizens based only on their race in the future. The United States officials argued in favor of the Japanese Internment. While Korematsu argues the letter of the law the United States had to argue for the spirit of the law. They claimed that the government and the military had a duty to protect the country and its people, not just its constitution. The president, as Commander and Chief, is fully authorized to order any military acts necessary to defend the nation, this includes Executive Order 9066. The United States Prosecutors also stated that over 5,000 Japanese Americans refused to swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and renounce their Allegiance to Japan. Their final argument says that the Enemy Alien Act of 1798 gives the government the authority to apprehend, intern, or otherwise restrict the rights of enemy aliens upon declaration of war or threat of invasion.

Write down three arguments you will use during the trial. 1) ___________________________________________________________________________ 2) ___________________________________________________________________________ 3) ___________________________________________________________________________ Question: Should the use government be allowed to intern citizens during a time of war in the interest of National Security? Learning the Reasons: Korematsu Team A US Team B

Personal stance: What side do you agree with? What arguments made you agree with that side? _________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

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