Using evidence from the opinions of the Korematsu v. the United States case, write a letter to be read on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which explains why the U.S. government issued this apology and payments to the survivors of the internment camps.

Korematsu v. the United States (1944)

Use the background information and the primary sources in the Graded Assignment: Primary Sources sheet to answer the following questions.

1. What did Fred T. Korematsu do that resulted in his arrest and conviction?

2. According to the first paragraph from the excerpts of the majority opinion, what did the U.S. government believe some Japanese Americans would do if they were allowed to remain free on the West Coast?

3. The majority of the court believed that compulsory exclusion of large groups of citizens from their homes was okay in what situation?

4. What did the dissenting justices think about the power of military authorities?

5. The dissenting opinion raises the fact that Japanese Americans were being deprived of what rights?

6. After years of lobbying by the Japanese American community, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which was signed into law by then President Ronald Reagan. Through this piece of legislation, the U.S. government formally apologized for its actions—for putting over a hundred thousand of its own citizens of Japanese ancestry into internment camps. In addition, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 authorized a $20,000 payment to be made to every living survivor of the internment camps.

Using evidence from the opinions of the Korematsu v. the United States case, write a letter to be read on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which explains why the U.S. government issued this apology and payments to the survivors of the internment camps.