Korematsu v. United States

Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Syllabus

Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II. In a 6-3 decision, the Court sided with the government, ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional.

84588Korematsu v. United States — Syllabus1944
Court Documents
Concurring Opinion
Frankfurter
Dissenting Opinions
Roberts
Murphy
Jackson

Supreme Court of the United States

323 U.S. 214

Korematsu  v.  United States

Certiorari to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

No. 22  Argued: October 11, 12, 1944 --- Decided: December 18, 1944

1. Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 which, during a state of war with Japan and as a protection against espionage and sabotage, was promulgated by the Commanding General of the Western Defense Command under authority of Executive Order No. 9066 and the Act of March 21, 1942, and which directed the exclusion after May 9, 1942, from a described West Coast military area of all persons of Japanese ancestry, held constitutional as of the time it was made and when the petitioner — an American citizen of Japanese descent whose home was in the described area — violated it. P. 219.

2. The provisions of other orders requiring persons of Japanese ancestry to report to assembly centers and providing for the detention of such persons in assembly and relocation centers were separate, and their validity is not in issue in this proceeding. P. 222. [p215]

3. Even though evacuation and detention in the assembly center were inseparable, the order under which the petitioner was convicted was nevertheless valid. P. 223.

CERTIORARI, 321 U.S. 760, to review the affirmance of a judgment of conviction.