As an ongoing experiment, our Government is a work in progress. There have been some stellar moments where America has lived up to the “shining city on a hill” reputation espoused by President Reagan. There have also been some instances where America has fallen short. Our Government, politicians, and people are not perfect, but I hope that as a country we learn from the mistakes of our past. In my opinion, fixing our mistakes and vowing to do better is how America becomes greater.

In December 1941, the Japanese launched the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor.  Americans were angry and afraid.  World War II (WW II) was no longer some foreign war fought in the cities and countryside of Europe.  The war was now on the U.S. doorstep, and the enemy had an Asian face.

Just a couple months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. It said:

“Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.”

This order was the Executive Branch’s guidance which allowed for the forcible removal of Japanese families from their homes, and the detainment of the families in internment camps in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Two-thirds of the Japanese people that were forcibly moved were American citizens.  This action appears to be a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, specifically the Due Process Clause which states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause since it targeted a single race. However, the President, supported by public opinion, believed the nation’s security during war outweighed the rights of any individual.

Faced with a questionable executive order that seemed to remove constitutional rights from some American citizens, the Legislative Branch could have addressed it in several ways.  The House and the Senate could have passed a law to invalidate the order, or they could have limited funding to prevent the implementation. In this instance, neither of those actions took place, and the Legislative Branch followed in the President’s footsteps with Public Law 77-50 which made it illegal for the Japanese-Americans to violate the military orders for re-location. 

Several Japanese-Americans tried to overcome their forced re-locations by using the Judicial Branch.  Questioning the legality of Executive Order 9066, the case of Korematsu versus U.S. made it all the way to the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 decision, that the detention was a “military necessity” not based on race. The Supreme Court ruled that the evacuation order violated by Korematsu was valid, and it was not necessary to address the constitutional racial discrimination issues in this case. With this loss at the Supreme Court in 1944, all branches agreed that personal constitutional rights could be removed.

This injustice and failure by the U.S. Government remained for nearly 40 years.  In 1983, Korematsu’s conviction was finally overturned, and the Supreme Court has since recognized the injustice of the internment. Additionally, the Legislative Branch and President signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-383) that formally apologized to, and provided reparations for, Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. It took decades, but America finally acknowledged that the Japanese internment was wrong. Hopefully, this blemish on our history will never be repeated, and our leadership ensures the rights of all people, vice removing rights based on racial prejudice.

[There is one strange twist to this story. Despite the horrible treatment and trampling of the rights of the Japanese-American community, a large number of young Japanese-American men wanted to join the U.S. military and fight. At first, they were denied – – but eventually, they were organized into an all-Japanese unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd became the most decorated unit for its size and length of service, earning approximately 4000 Purple Hearts, 21 Medals of Honor, and 7 Presidential Unit Citations. If you want to learn more about the Japanese internment and the actions of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, I would highly recommend reading Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown.]