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Korematsu v. United States

Significance, Korematsu Dissenters Question Constitutionality Of Detentions, Japanese American Internment Camps, Further Readings



Petitioner

Toyosaburo Korematsu

Respondent

United States

Petitioner's Claim

That the military orders which sent Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II were not justified by military necessity.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Wayne M. Collins

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Charles Fahy, U.S. Solicitor General

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black (writing for the Court), William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Stanley Forman Reed, Wiley Blount Rutledge, Harlan Fiske Stone

Justices Dissenting

Robert H. Jackson, Frank Murphy, Owen Josephus Roberts

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

18 December 1944

Decision

The orders were upheld as a valid exercise of the war powers the Constitution grants to Congress.

Related Cases

  • Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U.S. 81 (1943).
  • Ex parte Mitsuye Endo, 323 U.S. 283 (1944).

Sources

Okihiro, Gary Y. Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996.

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationNotable Trials and Court Cases - 1941 to 1953