III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 38 

Recognizing January 30, 2017, as ‘‘Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties 

and the Constitution’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2017 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

SCHATZ, Mr. BROWN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. WARREN, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. KAINE, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. 

COONS, and Mr. DURBIN) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing January 30, 2017, as ‘‘Fred Korematsu Day 

of Civil Liberties and the Constitution’’. 

Whereas, on January 30, 1919, Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu 

was born in Oakland, California, to Japanese immigrants; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu graduated from Oakland High 

School in 1937 and attempted to enlist in the military 

twice but was unable to do so because his selective service 

classification was changed to enemy alien, even though 

Fred Korematsu was a United States citizen; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu trained as a welder and worked as 

a foreman at the docks in Oakland until the date on 

which he and all Japanese Americans were fired; 


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Whereas, on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the military 

base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the United States 

to declare war against Japan; 

Whereas, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. Reg. 1407 

(February 25, 1942)), which authorized the Secretary of 

War to prescribe military areas— 

(1) from which any or all people could be excluded; 

and 

(2) with respect to which, the right of any person to 

enter, remain in, or leave would be subject to any restriction the Military Commander imposed in his discretion; 

Whereas, on May 3, 1942, the Lieutenant General of the 

Western Command of the Army issued Civilian Exclusion 

Order 34 (May 3, 1942) (referred to in this preamble as 

the ‘‘Civilian Exclusion Order’’) directing that all people 

of Japanese ancestry be removed from designated areas 

of the West Coast after May 9, 1942, because people of 

Japanese ancestry in the designated areas were considered to pose a threat to national security; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu refused to comply with the Civilian 

Exclusion Order and was arrested on May 30, 1942; 

Whereas, after his arrest, Fred Korematsu— 

(1) was held in squalor for 21⁄2 months in the Presidio stockade in San Francisco, California; 

(2) was convicted on September 8, 1942, of violating 

the Civilian Exclusion Order and sentenced to 5 years of 

probation; and 

(3) was detained at Tanforan Assembly Center, a 

former horse racetrack used as a holding facility for Japanese Americans before he was exiled with his family to 

the Topaz internment camp in the State of Utah; 


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Whereas more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were similarly detained, with no charges brought and without due 

process, in 10 permanent War Relocation Authority 

camps located in isolated desert areas of the States of 

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, 

and Wyoming; 

Whereas the people of the United States subject to the Civilian Exclusion Order lost their homes, livelihoods, and the 

freedoms inherent to all people of the United States; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu unsuccessfully challenged the Civilian Exclusion Order as it applied to him and appealed 

the decision of the United States District Court to the 

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 

which sustained his conviction; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu was subsequently confined with his 

family in the internment camp in Topaz, Utah, for 2 

years, and during that time, Fred Korematsu appealed 

his conviction to the Supreme Court of the United States; 

Whereas, on December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court of the 

United States issued Korematsu v. United States, 323 

U.S. 214 (1944), which— 

(1) upheld the conviction of Fred Korematsu by a 

vote of 6 to 3; and 

(2) concluded that Fred Korematsu was removed 

from his home not based on hostility toward him or other 

Japanese Americans but because the United States was 

at war with Japan and the military feared a Japanese invasion of the West Coast; 

Whereas, in his dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United 

States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), Justice Frank Murphy 


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called the Civilian Exclusion Order the ‘‘legalization of 

racism’’; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu continued to maintain his innocence for decades following World War II, and his conviction hampered his ability to gain employment; 

Whereas, in 1982, legal historian Peter Irons and researcher 

Aiko Yoshinaga-Herzig gained access to Government documents under section 552 of title 5, United States Code 

(commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’), 

that indicate that while the case of Fred Korematsu was 

before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Federal Government misled the Supreme Court of the United 

States and suppressed findings that Japanese Americans 

on the West Coast were not security threats; 

Whereas, in light of the newly discovered information, Fred 

Korematsu filed a writ of error coram nobis with the 

United States District Court for the Northern District of 

California, and on November 10, 1983, United States 

District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued her decision in 

Korematsu v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 1406 (N.D. 

Cal. 1984), that— 

(1) overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu; 

(2) concluded that, at the time that senior Government officials presented their case before the Supreme 

Court of the United States in 1944, the senior Government officials knew there was no factual basis for the 

claim of military necessity for the Civil Exclusion Order; 

and 

(3) stated that although the decision of the Supreme 

Court of the United States in Korematsu v. United 

States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), remains on the pages of 

United States legal and political history, ‘‘[a]s historical 


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precedent it stands as a constant caution that in times 

of war or declared military necessity our institutions 

must be vigilant in protecting constitutional guarantees’’; 

Whereas the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, authorized by Congress in 1980 to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. Reg. 1407 (February 25, 

1942)), concluded that— 

(1) the decision of the Supreme Court of the United 

States in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 

(1944), is overruled by the court of history; 

(2) a grave personal injustice was done to the 

United States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese 

ancestry who, without individual review or any probative 

evidence against them, were excluded, removed, and detained by the United States during World War II; and 

(3) the exclusion, removal, and detention of United 

States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry 

was motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime 

hysteria, and a failure of political leadership; 

Whereas the overturning of the conviction of Fred Korematsu 

and the findings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians influenced the decision 

by Congress to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 

U.S.C. 4211 et seq.) to request a Presidential apology 

and the symbolic payment of compensation to people of 

Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or property due to discriminatory actions of the Federal Government; 

Whereas, on August 10, 1988, President Reagan signed the 

Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.), 


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stating, ‘‘[H]ere we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our 

commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.’’; 

Whereas, on January 15, 1998, President Clinton awarded 

the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the 

United States, to Fred Korematsu, stating, ‘‘[i]n the long 

history of our country’s constant search for justice, some 

names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls: 

Plessy, Brown, Parks. To that distinguished list, today 

we add the name of Fred Korematsu.’’; 

Whereas, despite the fact that history demonstrates that discriminatory actions breed immoral, unconscionable, and 

unconstitutional actions levied against religious, ethnic, 

and racial minorities in the name of national security, recent actions by President Trump have publicly fanned religious, ethnic, and racial prejudices; 

Whereas, on January 27, 2017, President Trump issued— 

(1) an Executive order that suspends for 90 days 

the entry into the United States of immigrants and nonimmigrants who are nationals of 7 Muslim-majority countries, prohibiting the issuance of any visa to relatives, 

family members, and tourists from the 7 designated 

countries based solely on the nationality of the individual; 

(2) an Executive order indefinitely suspending the 

admission as refugees of Syrian nationals, even though, 

as of January 2017, there are more than 4,000,000 registered Syrian refugees who have fled the destructive civil 

war in Syria; 

(3) an Executive order slashing refugee admissions 

numbers for fiscal year 2017 from 110,000 to 50,000, 

even as other countries move to take in refugees; and 

(4) an Executive order directing the United States 

Refugee Assistance Program to prioritize refugee claims 


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based on religious persecution in which the religion of the 

refugee is a minority religion in the country of nationality 

of the refugee, a priority that singles out for exclusion 

members of the Islamic faith; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu remained a tireless advocate for 

civil liberties and justice throughout his life by— 

(1) speaking out against racial discrimination and 

violence targeting Arab, Muslim, South Asian, and Sikh 

Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001, tragedy; and 

(2) cautioning the Federal Government against repeating mistakes of the past that singled out individuals 

for heightened scrutiny on the basis of race, ethnicity, 

nationality, or religion; 

Whereas, on March 30, 2005, Fred Korematsu died at the 

age of 86 in Larkspur, California; 

Whereas Fred Korematsu is a role model for all people of the 

United States who love the United States and the promises contained in the Constitution of the United States, 

and the strength and perseverance of Fred Korematsu 

serve as an inspiration for all people who strive for equality and justice; and 

Whereas the recent actions of President Trump run directly 

counter to the history and legacy of justice exemplified by 

Fred Korematsu: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) honors Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu for 

3 his— 

4 (A) loyalty and patriotism to the United 

5 States; 


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1 (B) work to advocate for the civil rights 

2 and civil liberties of all people of the United 

3 States; and 

4 (C) dedication to justice and equality; 

5 (2) recognizes January 30, 2017, as ‘‘Fred 

6 Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitu7 tion’’; and 

8 (3) denounces any governmental effort to dis9 criminate against any individual based on the na10 tional origin or religion of the individual. 

Æ 


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