SHOULD ‘DUE PROCESS’ BE SUSPENDED DURING WARTIME?

Jonathan Dobbs

Bronx High School of Science

INTRODUCTION

After the unprovoked and surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Government issued Executive Order 1066. Executive Order 1066 authorizes the National Guard to round up both non-citizens and U.S. Citizens of Japanese ancestry and place them in detention camps. All persons fitting this category have 48 hours to sell your property and possessions and report to a Government relocation center. You are either a United States Attorney (prosecutor) or a defense attorney representing a Japanese-American family. Is the relocation fair? Should the government be allowed to detain any citizen or non-citizen who has the potential to sympathize with wartime enemies of the United States?

TASK

On December 7, 1941, an early Sunday morning, the Japanese Empire carried out an unprovoked and surprise attack on U.S. Naval forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Immediately, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan; Congress approved the declaration overwhelmingly. After the unprovoked attack, Americans believed that after the attack on Hawaii, the Japanese would be invading the west coast and California in particular. This country had a belief that Japanese-Americans would operate as a ‘Fifth Column’ (a spy network) for the invading Imperial Japanese Army. Americans and the U.S. military had the belief that in the event of the invasion, it would be impossible to distinguish between loyal Japanese-Americans and those who would support their ancestral homeland, Japan.

Americans now exhibiting fear, anger and the bona fide belief of a Japanese invasion of California, supported the American military’s request to take into custody Japanese-American (both no-citizens and citizens) and place them into detention camps. As a result, President Roosevelt Executive Order 1066, most Japanese-Americans were rounded up and herded into internment camps. Mr. 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 President Roosevelt’s executive order was based on his belief that the order violated his constitutional rights. His case, Korematsu v. United States, ultimately ended up before the United States Supreme Court.

Working in groups, each group will complete a CompuLEGAL analysis of the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States case. Each group will either(1) defend Mr. Korematsu; (2) defend the United States government; (3) be Judges presiding over the case; or (4) write an editorial supporting the defendant or the Government

“Truth, Justice & the American way”

vs.

PROCESS

The class will be conducting an exemplar of the Korematsu v. United States case. The class will be divided into groups of 4 students per group and assigned one of the following tasks;

Each group will first research;

· Facts surrounding Korematsu v. United States.

· Arguments on each side

· Supreme Court’s decision

· Impact of Supreme Court decision

· Facts of the Patriot Act

· Answer the survey at

1. Group ‘A’ will be assigned the task of defending Korematsu and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act

2. Group ‘B’ will be assigned the task of defending the Government and Executive Order 1066. and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act

3. Group ‘C’ will write and present a newspaper editorial in support of the Supreme and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act

Court decision from the perspective of a U.S. military general,

5. Group ‘D’ will write an editorial in support of the Supreme Court decision from the perspective of the governor of California, and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act from the point of view of the Mayor of New York City.

6. Group ‘E’ will write an editorial in support of the Supreme Court decision from the perspective of President Roosevelt, and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act from the point of view of President Bush.

7. Group ‘F’ will write an editorial from the perspective of a Japanese-American and concluding with a comparison of today’s war on terrorism, in particular the Patriot Act from the point of view from an Arab-American.

RESOURCES

TIPS WEBSITES

¯

Korematsu vs. United States

Patriot Act

Cartoon of the Case

Factsof the cas & The Supreme Court Opinion

Is it acceptable for the Government to limit Civil Liberties during wartime?

The Bill of Rights

EVALUATION

GRADING 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 from the case were precise and explicit	Mostly accurate; a few inconsistencies or errors in information regarding case	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.

In addition just as there is no question that the United States was threatened by a foreign enemy during World War II, the United States today is threatened by foreign enemies or terrorism. Therefore, two questions must be asked: (1) Was the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans justified in light of the threat posed by the Japanese Empire and her allies; and (2) Is the curtailing of our civil liberties, as codified in the Patriot Act, justified in light of the threat posed by international terrorism?

New York State Standards

Social Studies Standards

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.