Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was a Japanese American, born on January 30, 1919, in Oakland, California. After Pearl Harbor was bombed, the United States military deemed that the states of California, Oregon and Washingotn were part of the Western theatre of the war. Hence, after Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, the U.S. Army ordered that all Japanese Americans had to report to an army office, and those same persons would be required to be interned in a camp. Instead of reporting to an army office, like the rest of Fred’s family did, Fred stayed in Oakland, California with his Italian girlfriend. Two weeks after all Japanese Americans were evacuated from their homes in California, Fred was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and was accused of being an enemy spy.
Fred was contacted by the Northern California Chapter of the “American Civil Liberties Union”, an organization which agreed to litigate the unconstitutionality of the Japanese internment camps on behalf of Fred. While the case went up to the Supreme Court, the court confirmed the federal district and appellate court rulings by stating that military actions should not be scrutinized by a civil court, even if no form of Marshall Law has been instated by the military.
Hamilton Historical Records 