Korematsu v. United States, 6-3
Majority: (6)
Majority Opinion: Justice Hugo Black Concurring Opinion: Justice Felix Frankfurter Concurring Opinion: Chief Justice Harlan Stone Concurring Opinion: Justice Stanley Reed Concurring Opinion: William O. Douglas Concurring Opinion: Wiley B. Rutledge |
Dissent: (3)
Dissenting Opinion: Justice Owen Roberts Dissenting Opinion: Frank Murphy Dissenting Opinion: Robert Jackson |
"These eras of the Court remind us of how the Court has mirrored the times while trying to administer the rule of law. That makes any determination about the most important cases in the history of the Court a challenge." The Pursuit of Justice, Kermit Hall and John Patrick
"What made the Korematsu case different ... was the orders were upheld by a divided Supreme Court." Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Transcripts from A Conversation on the Constitution: The Importance of the Japanese Internment Cases" annenbergclassroom.org
Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui were all Nissei, born in the United States to Issei parents. The three cases were argued together before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.
The cases Hirabayashi and Yasui were argued in May 1943. Korematsu's case was argued in October 1944. |
During World War II, there were four cases challenging the Japanese American internment that reached the U.S. Supreme Court:
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