Fred Korematsu

Fred Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who challenged the wartime exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans. His case became a landmark in debates over racial discrimination, executive power, and constitutional rights.

Korematsu v. United States: A 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Fred Korematsu’s conviction for violating a military exclusion order. Korematsu’s legal challenge reached the Supreme Court in this decision.
Executive Order 9066: A 1942 presidential order authorizing military commanders to designate areas from which people could be excluded. It provided the authority behind the exclusion orders Korematsu resisted.
Earl Warren: An American jurist and politician who served as chief justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. As California attorney general, he supported wartime exclusion; later he expressed regret.
Korematsu v. United States (1983 coram nobis case): A 1983 federal district court proceeding that vacated Korematsu’s wartime conviction after evidence of government misconduct emerged. Korematsu’s conviction was set aside after his lawyers presented newly uncovered records.
Korematsu dissent by Justice Jackson: Justice Robert H. Jackson’s dissent in Korematsu v. United States, warning that the decision would legitimize racial restrictions. Jackson argued that the Court was turning an unlawful military order into a constitutional precedent.
Ex parte Endo: A 1944 Supreme Court case that ruled the government could not detain a concededly loyal U.S. citizen. Decided the same day as Korematsu, it addressed detention rather than exclusion.
Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34: A 1942 military order requiring people of Japanese ancestry in parts of San Leandro, California, to leave. Korematsu was convicted for failing to comply with this order.
Charles Fahy: A U.S. solicitor general who argued the government’s position in Korematsu v. United States. His Supreme Court brief relied on military claims later found to have withheld contrary evidence.
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians: A U.S. congressional commission that investigated the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans. Its 1983 report helped establish that military necessity did not justify the policy.
Korematsu dissent by Justice Murphy: Justice Frank Murphy’s dissent in Korematsu v. United States, describing the exclusion as racist and unsupported by military necessity. Murphy directly challenged the racial basis and evidentiary claims behind the policy.

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Internment of Japanese AmericansRelated: His case became the best-known legal challenge to removal and incarceration.