Korematsu v United States: Dale Minami Reflects On Long Term Implications of Supreme Court Case

Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt 10 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, authorized sending thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. The reasoning - that they looked like, and shared heritage with, the enemy. 

At the time, 23-year-old Fred Korematsu, an American citizen born in the U.S. to Japanese parents, refused to comply with the wartime evacuation order. He was later arrested, placed in an internment camp, and given five years probation. Korematsu took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944. In a 6-3 decision, the high court upheld the constitutionality of the internment program. 

But 40 years later, a federal judge overturned Korematsu's conviction. The Department of Justice filed a motion agreeing, calling it "an unfortunate episode in our nation's history." 

Dale Minami, the attorney who helped overturn Korematsu's conviction, joined ideas to discuss the long term implications of Korematsu v. United States and how to avoid repeating history. 

Additional Information:

City Club of Cleveland:  The Long Shadow of Korematsu vs. U.S.: Stop Repeating History

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