Christopher Columbus High School

Fifth & Fourteenth Amendments: Due Process of Law

Civil Liberties During Wartime

By David Dalglish

daviddalglish@hotmail.com

INTRODUCTION

You are a Japanese student living on the West Coast of the United States. The United States is at war with the Japanese Empire. The government fears that the Japanese may invade the U.S. from the West Coast. Executive Order 9066 authorizes the National Guard to round up individuals of Japanese ancestry. Your family has 48 hours to sell its possessions, evacuate its home and report to a designated relocation center. Is this fair? Should the government be allowed to round up potential sympathizers with the enemy during wartime?

TASK: CompuLEGAL

The Japanese Empire executed a surprise attack on U.S. Naval forces at Pearl Harbor. Immediately, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan; Congress approved the declaration overwhelmingly. Suddenly, a wave of fear and anger, suspicion and hostility targeted American citizens of Japanese heritage. Military advisors convinced President Roosevelt that the Japanese living on west coast may operate a spy and sabotage network against the United States. Many Japanese Americans were rounded up and herded into internment camps. Korematsu was a Japanese citizen residing on the west coast, who refused to abandon his home and to accept forced relocation. His decision to defy an executive order on the basis that the executive order violated his constitutional rights landed in the Supreme Court.

Working in groups, you will complete a CompuLEGAL analysis of the Korematsu v. United States case. Each group will be assigned to either defend Korematsu or the U.S. government.

PROCESS

Ø The class will be divided into 6 groups (5 students per group)

Ø Each group will research the following

1. Facts surrounding Korematsu v. United States.

2. Arguments on each side

3. Supreme Court’s decision

4. Impact of Supreme Court decision

Ø Group #1 will write an editorial in support of the Supreme Court decision from the perspective of a military general.

Ø Group #2 will write an editorial in support of the Supreme Court decision from the perspective of the governor of California.

Ø Group #3 will write an editorial in support of the Supreme Court decision from the perspective of President Roosevelt.

Ø Groups 4,5,6 write an editorial from the perspective of a Japanese American

RESOURCES

Vs.

T.I.P.S. Website: Korematsu v. U.S.

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/korematsuvis.html

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/65.htm

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Lesson_93_Notes.htm

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentv

EVALUATION

Cooperative Learning Project Rubric

	Exceptional	Admirable	Acceptable	Amateur
Organization	Extremely well organized; logical format that was easy to follow; flowed smoothly from one idea to another and cleverly conveyed; the organization enhanced the effectiveness of the research	Presented in a thoughtful manner; there were signs of organization and most transitions were easy to follow, but at times ideas were unclear	Somewhat organized; ideas were not presented coherently and transitions were not always smooth, which at times distracted the audience	Choppy and confusing; format was difficult to follow; transitions of ideas were abrupt and seriously distracted the audience
Content Accuracy	Completely accurate; all facts were precise and explicit	Mostly accurate; a few inconsistencies or errors in information	Somewhat accurate; more than a few inconsistencies or errors in information	Completely inaccurate; the facts in this project were misleading to the audience
Research	Went above and beyond to research information; solicited material in addition to what was provided; brought in personal ideas and information to enhance project; and utilized more than eight types of resources to make project effective	Did a very good job of researching; utilized materials provided to their full potential; solicited more than six types of research to enhance project; at times took the initiative to find information outside of school	Used the material provided in an acceptable manner, but did not consult any additional resources	Did not utilize resources effectively; did little or no fact gathering on the topic

CONCLUSION

From your research, you should have learned that the Supreme Court decision in Korematsu v. United States resulted in a loss of civil liberties for Japanese Americans. The Supreme Court turned a blind eye toward civil liberties in the name of national security. There is little debate as to whether the security of the United States was in question during World War II; but, questions still remain unanswered as to the extent to which the forced incarcertation of Japanese Americans was justified in light of the threat posed by the Japanese Empire and her allies.

A possibility for your next web quest will be to investigate another civil rights decision in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education. Here we can compare the Korematsu case with the Brown v. Board of Education case to see if different circumstances would prompt Supreme Court intervention in defense of civil liberties.

New York State Standards

Social Studies Standards

Standard 1:   History of the United States and New York

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 5:   Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

English Language Arts Standards

Standard 1:   Language for Information and Understanding

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard 3:   Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.