DUCKWORTH: WHY DID DOD USE JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMP RULING TO JUSTIFY ACTIONS?
'U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today wrote to Secretary of Defense James Mattis to express alarm over the Department of Defense’s (DOD) positive embrace of a long disgraced World War II-era Supreme Court ruling that allowed Japanese-American curfews and internment camps to justify Defense Department policy. In a recent court filing, DOD positively cited the Hirabayashi v United States decision – one of three infamous “anti-canon” U.S. Supreme Court rulings that led to the creation and sustainment of Japanese-American internment camps during WWII – as a legal basis for preventing Guantanamo Bay detainees from sharing artwork they made while imprisoned there.
“Setting aside the specific facts and circumstances associated with the motion in hand in United States of America v. Khalid Shaikh Mohammad et al being heard before the military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – I am concerned that DOD appears to be seeking to rehabilitate a pillar of the disgraced World War II-era Japanese internment decisions by positively citing Hirabayashi as good law,” wrote Duckworth.
Earlier this summer, Chief Justice John Roberts opined that Korematsu v. United States, another cases that justified the detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II was “gravely wrong the day it was decided” and “has no place in law under the Constitution.” In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice confessing the Solicitor General’s errors during the Hirabayashi and Korematsu arguments and noted that, were it not for these mistakes, the Supreme Court likely would not have ruled the same way.
“For DOD to cite, even in part, from Hirabayashi is highly alarming and I hope reflects a clerical error and not the official DOD legal interpretation,” Duckworth continued, asking if it was DOD’s position that these 3 Supreme Court decisions represent good law. “If DOD’s position is that none of the three cases represent good law, please provide an explanation of why Hirabayashi was positively cited and explain what reforms are in place or being implemented to prevent a repeat of this grave error.”'
https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-why-did-dod-use-japanese-internment-camp-ruling-to-justify-actions
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