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OTHER PRESS RELEASES

Equal Justice Society Cheers Overwhelming Defeat of Proposition 54
October 8, 2003

Equal Justice Society Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision in University of Michigan Law School Admissions Case
June 23, 2003

Bay Area legal scholars, civil rights advocates to respond to U.S. Supreme Court ruling in University of Michigan affirmative action cases; will speak to impact on post-209 California
June 20, 2003

California minority businesses, black lawyers, law professors support U. of Michigan admissions program; attorneys file amici brief in U.S. Supreme Court
Feb. 18, 2003

EJS NOTE: Attorneys Geoffrey R. Stone, David A. Strauss and Stephen J. Schulhofer saw a strong historic link between the current case challenging the indefinite detention of Arab and Muslim prisoners at Guantanomo and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. With the assistance of EJS board member Eric Yamamoto, EJS advisory board member Dale Minami, and EJS staff, the attorneys were introduced to Fred Korematsu who agreed to be represented by them in an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court. Yamamoto also helped shape some of the amicus arguments and EJS' Elaine Elinson provided media assistance to the attorneys. Read the Amerasia Journal article (PDF, 163k) by Yamamoto and EJS research director Susan Serrano cited in the Korematsu brief (PDF, 2mb).

Fred Korematsu, Challenger of WWII Internment, Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Examine Today's "War on Terrorism" Detentions

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 3, 2003) — Fred Korematsu filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief in the Supreme Court of the United States today asking the high court to review the constitutionality of prolonged executive detentions under the Bush administration's "war on terrorism." The amicus brief was filed in the cases of Khaled Odah v. United States, Shafiq Rasul v. George W. Bush and Yasir Hamdi v. Donald Rumsfeld. Each of the plaintiffs has been held without formal charges, without any fair hearing to determine "guilt" or innocence, without the assistance of counsel, and without any meaningful judicial review.

"This is an extraordinary convergence of events, spanning sixty years of this nation's history," said Geoffrey R. Stone, primary author of the Korematsu brief. "More than sixty years ago, Mr. Korematsu had the courage to challenge the constitutionality of President Franklin Roosevelt's 1942 Executive Order that authorized the internment of 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast of the United States. He has committed himself to ensuring that Americans do not forget the lessons of their own history."

Korematsu was convicted of refusing to obey the internment order and sent to prison. In Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), the Supreme Court upheld his conviction, ruling that because the United States was at war, the government could constitutionally intern him, without a hearing, and without any adjudicative determination that he had done anything wrong. In 1983, Korematsu's conviction was overturned by Judge Marilyn Patel of the United States District Court in response to a writ of coram nobis, filed on his behalf by a team of attorneys, many of whose parents had also been interned.

More than half-a-century after his internment, Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, for his courage and persistence in opposing this injustice. "We should be vigilant to make sure this will never happen again," Korematsu said.

The amicus brief argues that the petitioners in these cases have been unconstitutionally deprived of their liberty because they have been held for extended periods of time without any opportunity for a fair hearing before a competent tribunal.

"The extreme nature of the government's position in these cases is reminiscent of its positions in past episodes, in which the United States too quickly sacrificed civil liberties in the rush to accommodate overbroad claims of military necessity," explained attorney Stone, the Harry Kalven, Jr. Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. "In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, the Supreme Court should make clear in these cases that the United States respects fundamental constitutional and human rights - even in time of war."

"These cases present the Supreme Court with a direct test of whether it will meet its deepest constitutional responsibilities to uphold the law in a clear-eyed and courageous manner," Stone added

In addition to Stone, Korematsu is represented by David A. Strauss of the University of Chicago Law School and Stephen J. Schulhofer of New York University Law School.

Geoffrey Stone can be reached at the number above or by e-mail at
g-stone@uchicago.edu.

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PRESS CONTACT:
Geoffrey R. Stone
212/992-8909