Santa Clara Superior Court and JAMsj Honors the Legacy of Civil Rights Leader Fred T. Korematsu

Date: Jan. 30, 2018

Time: noon

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In observance of Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, the Santa Clara County Superior Court has joined with several community organizations to present two events to recognize and pay homage to Fred T. Korematsu and his role in the advancement of civil rights. 

In 1944, Mr. Korematsu appealed his conviction for violating the WWII laws detaining U.S. citizens because of their Japanese ancestry to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In 1983, he successfully filed a writ of coram nobis in federal court and won a decision overturning his conviction. 

Two upcoming events provide a unique opportunity to hear one of the lead attorneys and the judge who participated in that historic 1983 decision, discuss its importance in today's world.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018  at the Santa Clara County Family Justice Center from 12 noon - 1:30 p.m.

The Superior Court will host Hon. Marilyn Hall Patel (ret.). Judge Patel will be presenting a "View from the Bench" perspective of her 1983 decision reversing Fred Korematsu's conviction for violating the WWII detention and incarceration orders, in which she acknowledged the "manifest injustice" to Mr. Korematsu and the over 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated. 

Judge Patel will be providing her lively recollections of that historic case and her unique perspective as to how it relates to current events in politics and the court.

RSVP is required as space is limited. Please RSVP to rsvp@svscourt.org by January 23, 2018.

Judge Roberta Hayashi, who was sworn to the Santa Clara Bench on January 30, 2015, a day selected to honor Fred Korematsu, calls him "a civil rights hero. Not only did Mr. Korematsu seek justice for himself, but for all U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who were detained and incarcerated during WWII, and ultimately sought justice for all." 

After the historic 1983 decision that bears his name, Fred T. Korematsu continued to fight for constitutional rights, speaking out against post-9/11 discrimination against Muslim and Arab Americans. 

In 1998, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 2010, the State of California passed the Fred Korematsu Day bill, making January 30 the first day in the U.S. named after an Asian American.

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