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We Endorse Legislation To Commemorate Fred Korematsu and Protect Civil Liberties
January 30, 2023–Due Process Institute and 85 civil liberties organizations wrote to strongly support legislation that recognizes Fred Korematsu’s legacy as a civil rights hero. Accordingly, we endorse the following legislation: (1) Fred Korematsu Congressional Gold Medal Act; (2) Recognizing the importance of establishing a national “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution”; (3) Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans. In all, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were detained and forcefully removed from their homes without charges or due process for years. The lawsuit brought by Fred Korematsu, an American citizen of Japanese descent, fought the implementation of that order, challenging the mass violation of civil liberties on the basis of race. Korematsu stood against these unfounded and racist actions. At the time, our institutions — our democracy — failed him. The Supreme Court, intended as a bulwark against Executive power run amok, upheld Korematsu’s detention in Korematsu v. United States in 1944, with a 6-3 majority. However, the dissent by Justice Frank Murphy spoke the truth that the United States, grudgingly and slowly, would come to recognize through executive, judicial, and legislative action. Justice Murphy declared the order to detain Japanese Americans the “legalization of racism.” The imprisonment of Americans of Japanese ancestry, and its legal sanction, is now recognized as a grave injustice and a violation of civil liberties.
Congress should elevate this history for all Americans to learn from it and recognize the importance of this civil rights hero who took a stand on behalf of all of us, and we endorse and urge the enactment of the following legislation: (1) Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act, which would prohibit detention or imprisonment based solely on an actual or perceived characteristic of an individual. (2) Recognizing the importance of establishing a national “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution,” which will help to ensure that Fred Korematsu’s legacy is remembered and honored, and that the lessons of the incarceration are not forgotten. (3) Fred Korematsu Congressional Gold Medal Act, which will honor Fred Korematsu for his decades-long fight for justice, and will serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of protecting civil liberties for all Americans.
DPI Leads Effort to Urge Changes to Admission of Expert Testimony Under Federal Evidence Rules
October 16, 2020–Due Process Institute partnered with the Innocence Project and Prof. Brandon Garrett of Duke Law School’s Wilson Center for Science and Justice to urge the Committee responsible for drafting the Federal Rules of Evidence to turn their attention to the critical issue of ensuring scientific integrity in court proceedings.
In a letter supported by a diverse array of academic institutions, legal advocates, and policy organizations, we urged the Committee to consider amending Rule 702 because courts frequently fail to exclude unreliable or insufficiently tested forensic techniques or to rein in exaggerated and misleading claims to experts. These failures are particularly consequential in court proceedings in which life and liberty are at stake.
We thank our many allies for the support, advocacy, and expertise they provided in this effort: Academy for Justice at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law; American Civil Liberties Union; Black Public Defender Association; The Bronx Defenders; Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University; Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences; Computational Justice Lab at Claremont Graduate University; Fair and Just Prosecution; Federal Public and Community Defenders; Forensic Justice Project; Innocence Project; The Legal Aid Society; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia; Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Reason Foundation; Southern Center for Human Rights; and Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke University School of Law.
DPI Signs Statement of Principles Regarding the Trial Penalty
March 10, 2020–Due Process Institute has long been concerned about the factors that discourage the rights of every American to be tried by a jury of their peers when accused of a crime. Chief among those is a system that pushes for guilty pleas because prosecutors can hold the threat of enforcing oppressive sentencing regimes if a defendant wants to exercise the right to a jury trial. This is known as the “trial penalty.” DPI joined dozens of other advocates to call for a policy solution to this problem.
DPI Staff Quoted on Discovery Reform
October 26, 2019–Director of Rule of Law Initiatives Joe Luppino-Esposito was quoted in the Danville Register & Bee discussing the push towards discovery reform in Virginia and around the country.
“A lot of prosecutors aren’t going to know what’s material to a defendant’s case because they don’t know what a defendant’s case is going to be,” he said.
Due Process Institute Urges Discovery Reform in VA
April 17, 2018–Due Process Institute joined several other groups, notably the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to advocate for changes to Virginia’s discovery rules, which will lead to a more just legal system.