Korematsu v. United States

Context

World War II began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany in response, and the conflict quickly escalated. While the US government began to prepare for war, most Americans wanted the nation to remain neutral in the global conflict. Japan was an ally of Germany. Tensions between the United States and Japan had escalated significantly in the late 1930s over the latter country's invasion of China. The incursion into China prompted the Roosevelt administration to impose an oil embargo on Japan. As relations deteriorated between the two countries, Japan launched a surprise aerial and submarine attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, without formally declaring war.

The Japanese attack killed 2,403 US service members and civilians and shattered the US Pacific Fleet, sinking four battleships and sinking or damaging fifteen other vessels. Japanese losses were light, with twenty-nine aircraft destroyed, along with four small “midget” submarines. In total, sixty-four Japanese sailors and pilots were killed. The following day, Japan and the United States declared war on each other; on December 11, Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, also declared war on the United States. Japanese forces were soon engaged in offensives against US and Allied positions throughout the Pacific, capturing the US territories of Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines.

The success of the Japanese attacks prompted fears of further attacks on Hawaii and the US Pacific Coast. It also unleashed a wave of patriotism and a desire for revenge. Millions of Americans joined, or tried to join, the military. People rushed to purchase savings bonds, which helped finance the war. There were also campaigns to collect materials such as household pots and pans to be melted down and converted for use in the war effort. Americans were expected to make sacrifices and go to extraordinary lengths to support the war effort. Food, gas, and other consumer products were rationed.

The first major US victory against the Japanese was the Battle of Midway on June 4–7, 1942, during which US naval forces defeated a larger Japanese armada and prevented the invasion of Midway Island, whose capture was seen as a stepping stone for the conquest of Hawaii by Japan. Following the battle, the war in the Pacific continued for three more years. During the fighting, more than 111,600 Americans died, with more than 253,000 wounded.

Throughout the war, the Supreme Court generally granted wide deference to the executive branch on security issues. This reflected longstanding trends in US constitutional law. During times of national emergency, the courts typically deferred to the government when claims about national security were raised. This was true for several reasons. The Constitution made the president commander in chief of the military and gave the chief executive broad powers to protect the country. The president was also given broad powers to conduct US foreign policy and diplomacy. The framers of the Constitution recognized that there were times when military or strategic decisions had to be made by a single person; consequently, although Congress alone had the power to declare war, the president was mainly responsible for the conduct of any war and for protecting the United States.

For example, when eight German saboteurs were captured in June 1942, Roosevelt ordered, in Executive Proclamation 2561, that they and future spies be tried by military tribunals. Opponents of the military tribunals challenged their legality. However, the Supreme Court decided in Ex parte Quirin (July 31, 1942) that the tribunals were constitutional because a distinction existed between enemy combatants in uniform, who were entitled to protections granted prisoners of war under international law, and spies or enemy agents caught out of uniform. The Ex parte Quirin decision and the subsequent Korematsu case reflected the willingness of the Court to allow the government to implement policies during wartime that would generally be prohibited during peace.