Motion to Vacate Conviction and Dismiss Indictment of Fred T. Korematsu, November 16, 1983
United States v. Korematsu was a criminal action brought against Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu for resisting mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Korematsu was convicted and given five years probation. He was sent to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, CA, and later the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. ACLU lawyers appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, which upheld the conviction in 1944.
In 1983, a pro bono legal team sought to reopen the case, filed this Motion to Vacate Conviction and Dismiss Indictment of Fred T. Korematsu, and introduced new evidence to the Court showing that reports from the government intelligence agencies were intentionally suppressed or destroyed. Federal judge Marylyn Hall Patel overturned Korematsu’s conviction on November 10, 1983. The case was influential in the 1988 Civil Liberties Act that apologized and granted reparations to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. In 1998, Fred Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Motion to Vacate Conviction and Dismiss Indictment of Fred T. Korematsu Before the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, November 16, 1983, from United States v. Korematsu criminal case file. National Archives Identifier: 296047
United States v. Korematsu, the subsequent appeals, and reopening of the case 40 years later, is a complicated set of legal arguments and documentation. You can learn more about the cases from this United States Courts educational site.
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