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.