United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944)

Korematsu v. United States

No. 22

Argued October 11, 12, 1944

Decided December 18, 1944

323 U.S. 214

Syllabus

1. Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 which, during a state of war with Japan and as a protection against espionage and sabotage, was promulgated by the Commanding General of the Western Defense Command under authority of Executive Order No. 9066 and the Act of March 21, 1942, and which directed the exclusion after May 9, 1942, from a described West Coast military area of all persons of Japanese ancestry, held constitutional as of the time it was made and when the petitioner -- an American citizen of Japanese descent whose home was in the described area -- violated it. P. 323 U. S. 219.

2. The provisions of other orders requiring persons of Japanese ancestry to report to assembly centers and providing for the detention of such persons in assembly and relocation centers were separate, and their validity is not in issue in this proceeding. P. 323 U. S. 222.

Page 323 U. S. 215

3. Even though evacuation and detention in the assembly center were inseparable, the order under which the petitioner was convicted was nevertheless valid. P. 323 U. S. 223.

140 F.2d 289, affirmed.

CERTIORARI, 321 U.S. 760, to review the affirmance of a judgment of conviction.