Court ruling on military detention in WWII

Re “Railroading injustice,” Opinion, Sept. 28

Yale University professor Bruce Ackerman wrote: “The Korematsu case -- upholding the military detention of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II -- has never been explicitly overruled.” Although it is true that Korematsu challenged the military’s authority to incarcerate civilians without a trial, the Supreme Court in 1944 deliberately limited its ruling in the case to Korematsu’s violation of the May 1942 Civilian Exclusion Order.

Exclusion, the court declared, “was deemed necessary because of the presence of an unascertained number of disloyal members of the [Japanese American] group, most of whom we have no doubt were loyal to this country.” The court concluded that Korematsu “was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire.”

Together, in the Hirabayashi, Yasui and Korematsu cases, the court only affirmed decisions regarding evacuation and curfew violations. Those decisions intentionally did not address incarceration of a U.S. citizen. That would remain for the Endo case, which was decided against the government. Ackerman’s argument is important, but those World War II cases are too important to be cited incorrectly.

ELLIOTT R. BARKAN

Professor Emeritus of

History and Ethnic Studies

Cal State San Bernardino