Korematsu Vs. US

3 Pages 685 Words

Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu vs. United States

Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was one of many, who was born in the United States to parents that were born in Japan who were taken from their homes. During the time of World War II, the US was having altercations with Japan which brought the US to be afraid that the Japanese Americans might be undercover spies and will take back information from America to Japan. Therefore, the US Government transferred all people that were natives of Japan or whose ancestors are from Japan to concentration camps from their homes. As unconstitutional as it is, it was still done. Many people were against this but few spoke out. One who spoke out was Korematsu. He took the case to the district court and then to the Supreme Court, loosing both cases, trying to defend his rights.
Korematsu was able to bring this case to the Supreme Court because it was truly clear that the actions of making one enter concentration camps merely because of race was unconstitutional. The constitutional issues of this case was the freedoms or rights taken away from the Japanese Americans. The constitution states that ones rights should not be taken away just because of ones race, religion, or background. Such rights were taken away from Korematsu and many other Japanese Americans. The Constitution considers Korematsu and other people of Japanese background citizens of the United States if they were born on US property no matter what their parents' racial background was. Korematsu, a citizen of California, was never accused of not being loyal to our country and never been convicted of a crime; however he was guilty of being a descendent of Japanese background.
Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was charged with "failure to report for evacuation and detention (concentration) camps." This case started May 11, 1943 and the verdict was decided on June 1, 1943. The people of the jury decided that Korematsu was guilty and decided to p...