[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 38 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






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;
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 2\1/2\ 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;

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 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 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.), 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 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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) honors Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu for his--
                    (A) loyalty and patriotism to the United States;
                    (B) work to advocate for the civil rights and civil 
                liberties of all people of the United States; and
                    (C) dedication to justice and equality;
            (2) recognizes January 30, 2017, as ``Fred Korematsu Day of 
        Civil Liberties and the Constitution''; and
            (3) denounces any governmental effort to discriminate 
        against any individual based on the national origin or religion 
        of the individual.
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