World War II
Infringements and Limitations:
- Japanese internment
- Korematsu v United States
- 1st Amendment
- 4th Amendment
- 6th Amendment
Background
WWII started in 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. When Hitler refused to back down, Britain and France declared war. Meanwhile Japan was invading China. While Europe and Asia smoldered, the US again holding a policy of isolationism. US involvement was a result of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The angered US swiftly responded by declaring war on both fronts.
Because of the unprecedented attack on US soil, Americans feared that the Japanese had also sent over spies to gather intelligence, prompting the internment of Japanese-Americans with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. Japanese and Japanese-Americans were rounded up and stripped of there rights. They lost everything they owned, with no evidence of any wrongdoing and endured heavy discrimination.
Korematsu v United States
Korematsu v United States was a Supreme Court case that challenged constitutionality of Japanese internment. Fred Korematsu was a Japanese American was arrested for remaining in his home. He argued that the Japanese internment was unconstitutional and took his case to the courts. The Supreme Court ruled that the exlusion order was lawful, arguing that the need to prevent espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights. This decision allows for exclusion of certain peoples in emergencies. Any group or race in question, hypothetically could be stripped of their rights if they were suspected of harmful action.