Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-965_h315.pdf
Page Number: 92

28 

TRUMP v. HAWAII 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

In  the  intervening  years  since  Korematsu,  our  Nation 
has done much to leave its sordid legacy behind.  See, e.g.,
Civil  Liberties  Act  of  1988,  50  U. S. C.  App.  §4211  et seq. 
(setting  forth  remedies  to  individuals  affected  by  the
executive order at issue in Korematsu); Non-Detention Act 
of 1971, 18 U. S. C. §4001(a) (forbidding the imprisonment 
or detention by the United States of any citizen absent an 
Act  of  Congress).    Today,  the  Court  takes  the  important
step  of  finally  overruling  Korematsu,  denouncing  it  as 
“gravely wrong the day it was decided.”  Ante, at 38 (citing 
Korematsu,  323  U. S.,  at  248  (Jackson,  J.,  dissenting)).
This  formal  repudiation  of  a  shameful  precedent  is  laud­
able and long overdue.  But it does not make the majority’s 
decision here acceptable or right.  By blindly accepting the
Government’s misguided invitation to sanction a discrimi­
natory policy motivated by animosity toward a disfavored
group,  all  in  the  name  of  a  superficial  claim  of  national
security,  the  Court  redeploys  the  same  dangerous  logic 
underlying  Korematsu  and  merely  replaces  one  “gravely
wrong” decision with another.  Ante, at 38. 

Our Constitution demands, and our country deserves, a
Judiciary  willing  to  hold  the  coordinate  branches  to  ac­
count when they defy our most sacred legal commitments. 
Because  the  Court’s  decision  today  has  failed  in  that
respect, with profound regret, I dissent.