American Notes Justice

Twice in 44 years, Gordon Hirabayashi heard the charges against him argued in the same Seattle federal courtroom. The first time was in 1942, when Hirabayashi, now 67, was a University of Washington senior who, standing by his rights as a U.S. citizen, defied an order relocating 110,000 West Coast Japanese to internment camps. His case reached the Supreme Court, where Justice Department lawyers argued successfully that the internment order was constitutionally based on military need and wartime urgency. Hirabayashi spent two years in jails and a work camp.

Five years ago, however, notes found in the National Archives persuaded Hirabayashi to reopen the case. In a 1942 report, the Army commander who ordered the massive relocation argued that it was not feasible to separate the "sheep from the goats" and distinguish loyal Japanese Americans. The relocation, in other words, was based on race, not urgency. The War Department ordered that racially prejudiced reasoning amended, and never revealed the original report. In essence, ruled Federal Judge Donald Voorhees last week, the U.S. lied, and he overturned Hirabayashi's conviction.