Korematsu V. United States

Japanese American living in San Leandro, California

1944; 3 years after Pearl Harbor

Japanese Americans were accused of spying and espionage against the United States

Japanese Americans were put into internment camps along the West Coast due to this suspicion

Fred Korematsu believed this was discrimination against his race and refused to leave his home; claimed to be Mexican American but was still arrested

Issued by FDR, relocated Japanese, Italian, and German Americans into internment camps

Korematsu took his case to the federal court, ruled against him; appealed and took case to the Supreme Court on the basis that Order 9066 violated the 14th and 5th Amendments

citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws (must treat citizens the same)

right to life, liberty, and property

Ruled 6-3 against Korematsu and upheld that the order was constitutional and legal; overturned decades later and was given a medal by Bill Clinton