In 1942 the United States was just recovering from the Pearl Harbor bombings by the Japanese and was fully embroiled in the fighting of World War II aiding the Allied powers. In February President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 allowing the declaration of “military areas” along the Pacific Coast of the United States. This declaration allowed the segregation and internment of “specified” individuals, namely all Japanese and Japanese-American’s within the areas. Fred Korematsu, an American citizen, failing to report for relocation by having plastic surgery to alter his appearance was discovered and arrested in May. In September he was convicted in federal court, and in September of 1944 the case was brought before the supreme court, Korematsu v. United States. The ruling held by the court was a decision against Korematsu with a …show more content…
****THESIS STATEMENT****

RACE: ****TOPIC SENTENCE**** Justice Hugo Black, delivering the majority opinion, tackles the accusations of this exclusion order being brought about by racist underpinnings by outright denying its affects. Justice Black expresses the opinions of the court in the statement, “He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese.” This must absolutely be the opinion held by the majority given that Justice Black begins his statements by stating that any order based on “racial antagonism” is never a justification for such action. Justice Owen Roberts providing one of the dissenting opinions argues the opposite. In fact, Roberts, argues that the exclusion order was “based on his ancestry, and solely because of his ancestry.” Among the opinions held by the dissenters, clearly, the provided rationale that racism played no part in the execution of the order was not strong enough. Justice Frank Murphy opens his statements with the opinion that the exclusion