[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

  SENATE RESOLUTION 19--RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF ESTABLISHING A 
NATIONAL ``FRED KOREMATSU DAY OF CIVIL LIBERTIES AND THE CONSTITUTION''

  Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Blumenthal, 
Mr. Booker, Mr. Casey, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
Merkley, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary:

                               S. Res. 19

       Whereas Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was born on January 30, 
     1919, in Oakland, California, to Japanese immigrant parents;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu attempted to enlist in the United 
     States National Guard and the United States Coast Guard after 
     the United States entered World War II and was rejected 
     because of his Japanese ancestry;
       Whereas after the signing of Executive Order 9066 on 
     February 19, 1942, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 
     which authorized the forced imprisonment of 120,000 people of 
     Japanese descent into prison camps, the majority of whom were 
     American citizens, Fred Korematsu resisted that infringement 
     of American civil liberties and attempted to continue his 
     life as an American citizen until he was arrested, convicted, 
     and incarcerated at a concentration camp in Topaz, Utah;
       Whereas, in 1944, Fred Korematsu appealed his case to the 
     United States Supreme Court, which ruled against him, 
     declaring in Korematsu v. United States that Japanese 
     incarceration was a ``military necessity'' rather than an 
     egregious act of racial discrimination;
       Whereas, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter created the 
     Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians 
     (CWRIC), which concluded in 1983 that the forced removal and 
     imprisonment of people of Japanese ancestry was motivated by 
     ``race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political 
     leadership'';
       Whereas during this time, researchers at the University of 
     California, San Diego uncovered documents from the United 
     States Department of Justice in which intelligence agencies, 
     including the FBI, the FCC, and the Office of Naval 
     Intelligence, denied that Japanese-Americans ever committed 
     wrongdoing, but which were never presented to the United 
     States Supreme Court during Korematsu v. United States;
       Whereas following the conclusion of the Commission on 
     Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians and the 
     findings on governmental misconduct, Fred Korematsu reopened 
     his case, and on November 10, 1983, the United States 
     District Court of Northern California in San Francisco 
     overturned his conviction;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu's courageously fought injustice by 
     challenging the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, 
     and his lawsuit remains an important lesson about the 
     fragility of individual civil liberties during a time when 
     the Nation is experiencing threats to its national security;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu continued to fight injustice and 
     defend the liberties of Muslim people when, in 2003, he 
     warned in an amicus brief that the United States extreme 
     national security measures following the terrorist attacks of 
     September 11, 2001, were reminiscent of the mistakes of the 
     past that undermined American civil liberties, including the 
     Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the suspension of habeas 
     corpus during the Civil War, the prosecution of dissenters 
     during World War I, the Red Scare of 1919-1920, the interment 
     of people of Japanese descent during World War II, and the 
     era of loyalty oaths and McCarthyism during the Cold War;
       Whereas the democratic character of the American people 
     will be nourished and enhanced by opportunities for civic 
     education on the significant challenges that have been posed 
     to our Constitution;
       Whereas a day of annual national reflection on how the Fred 
     Korematsu quest for justice is important to educating the 
     American people about preserving civil liberties and the 
     principle of equality before the law; and
       Whereas the States of California, Florida, Hawaii, 
     Virginia, and Arizona have already designated January 30 as 
     Fred Korematsu Day to commemorate his lifelong fight for 
     civil liberties and the Constitution: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the importance of establishing a national 
     ``Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the 
     Constitution''; and
       (2) encourages all people to reflect on the importance of 
     political leadership and vigilance and on the values of 
     justice and civil rights during times of uncertainty and 
     emergency.

                          ____________________