[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 924 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 924
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Fred Korematsu, in
recognition of his contributions to civil rights, his loyalty and
patriotism to the Nation, and his dedication to justice and equality.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 30, 2019
Mr. Takano introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Fred Korematsu, in
recognition of his contributions to civil rights, his loyalty and
patriotism to the Nation, and his dedication to justice and equality.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fred Korematsu Congressional Gold
Medal Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) On January 30, 1919, Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was born
in Oakland, California, to Japanese immigrants.
(2) Fred Korematsu graduated from Castlemont High School in
1937 and attempted to enlist in the military twice but was
unable to do so because his selective service classification
was changed to enemy alien, even though Fred Korematsu was a
United States citizen.
(3) Fred Korematsu trained as a welder and worked as a
foreman at the docks in Oakland until the date on which he and
all Japanese Americans were fired.
(4) On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the military base
in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the United States to declare
war against Japan.
(5) On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. Reg. 1407 (February 25,
1942)), which authorized the Secretary of War to prescribe
military areas--
(A) from which any or all people could be excluded;
and
(B) with respect to which, the right of any person
to enter, remain in, or leave would be subject to any
restriction the Military Commander imposed in his
discretion.
(6) On May 3, 1942, the Lieutenant General of the Western
Command of the Army issued Civilian Exclusion Order 34 (May 3,
1942) (referred to in this preamble as the ``Civilian Exclusion
Order'') directing that all people of Japanese ancestry be
removed from designated areas of the West Coast after May 9,
1942, because people of Japanese ancestry in the designated
areas were considered to pose a threat to national security.
(7) Fred Korematsu refused to comply with the Civilian
Exclusion Order and was arrested on May 30, 1942.
(8) After his arrest, Fred Korematsu--
(A) was held for 2\1/2\ months in the Presidio
stockade in San Francisco, California;
(B) was convicted on September 8, 1942, of
violating the Civilian Exclusion Order and sentenced to
5 years of probation; and
(C) was detained at Tanforan Assembly Center, a
former horse racetrack used as a holding facility for
Japanese Americans before he was exiled with his family
to the Topaz incarceration camp in the State of Utah.
(9) More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were similarly
detained, with no charges brought and without due process, in
10 permanent War Relocation Authority camps located in isolated
desert areas of the States of Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming.
(10) The people of the United States subject to the
Civilian Exclusion Order lost their homes, livelihoods, and the
freedoms guaranteed to all people of the United States.
(11) Fred Korematsu unsuccessfully challenged the Civilian
Exclusion Order as it applied to him and appealed the decision
of the United States District Court to the United States Court
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which sustained his
conviction.
(12) Fred Korematsu was subsequently confined with his
family in the incarceration camp in Topaz, Utah, for 2 years,
and during that time, Fred Korematsu appealed his conviction to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
(13) On December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court of the United
States issued Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944),
which--
(A) upheld the conviction of Fred Korematsu by a
vote of 6 to 3; and
(B) concluded that Fred Korematsu was removed from
his home not based on hostility toward him or other
Japanese Americans but because the United States was at
war with Japan and the military feared a Japanese
invasion of the West Coast.
(14) In his dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United
States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), Justice Frank Murphy called the
Civilian Exclusion Order the ``legalization of racism''.
(15) Two other Supreme Court Justices dissented from the
majority decision in Korematsu v. United States, including
Justice Jackson who described the validation of the principle
of racial discrimination as a ``loaded weapon, ready for the
hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim
of an urgent need''.
(16) Fred Korematsu continued to maintain his innocence for
decades following World War II, and his conviction hampered his
ability to gain employment.
(17) In 1982, legal historian Peter Irons and researcher
Aiko Yoshinaga-Herzig gained access to Government documents
under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly
known as the ``Freedom of Information Act''), that indicate
that while the case of Fred Korematsu was before the Supreme
Court of the United States, the Federal Government misled the
Supreme Court of the United States and suppressed findings that
Japanese Americans on the West Coast were not security threats.
(18) In light of the newly discovered information, Fred
Korematsu filed a writ of error coram nobis with the United
States District Court for the Northern District of California,
and on November 10, 1983, United States District Judge Marilyn
Hall Patel issued her decision in Korematsu v. United States,
584 F. Supp. 1406 (N.D. Cal. 1984), that--
(A) overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu;
(B) concluded that, at the time that senior
Government officials presented their case before the
Supreme Court of the United States in 1944, the senior
Government officials knew there was no factual basis
for the claim of military necessity for the Civil
Exclusion Order;
(C) acknowledged that ``the government knowingly
withheld information from the courts when they were
considering the critical question of military
necessity'' in the original case;
(D) recognized that ``there is substantial support
in the record that the government deliberately omitted
relevant information and provided misleading
information in papers before the court. The information
was critical to the court's determination''; and
(E) stated that although the decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States in Korematsu v.
United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), remains on the
pages of United States legal and political history,
``[a]s historical precedent it stands as a constant
caution that in times of war or declared military
necessity our institutions must be vigilant in
protecting constitutional guarantees''.
(19) The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of
Civilians, authorized by Congress in 1980 to review the facts
and circumstances surrounding the relocation and incarceration
of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. Reg.
1407 (February 25, 1942)), concluded that--
(A) the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214
(1944), is overruled by the court of history;
(B) a grave personal injustice was done to the
United States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese
ancestry who, without individual review or any
probative evidence against them, were excluded,
removed, and detained by the United States during World
War II; and
(C) the exclusion, removal, and detention of United
States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese
ancestry was motivated largely by ``racial prejudice,
wartime hysteria, and a failure of political
leadership''.
(20) The overturning of the conviction of Fred Korematsu
and the findings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and
Internment of Civilians influenced the decision by Congress to
pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.)
to request a Presidential apology and the symbolic payment of
compensation to people of Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or
property due to discriminatory actions of the Federal
Government.
(21) On August 10, 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.), stating,
``[H]ere we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our commitment as a
nation to equal justice under the law.''.
(22) On January 15, 1998, President Clinton awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of
the United States, to Fred Korematsu, stating, ``[i]n the long
history of our country's constant search for justice, some
names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls: Plessy,
Brown, Parks. To that distinguished list, today we add the name
of Fred Korematsu.''.
(23) Fred Korematsu remained a tireless advocate for civil
liberties and justice throughout his life by--
(A) speaking out against racial discrimination and
violence; and
(B) cautioning the Federal Government against
repeating mistakes of the past that singled out
individuals for heightened scrutiny on the basis of
race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion.
(24) On March 30, 2005, Fred Korematsu died at the age of
86 in Marin County, California.
(25) Fred Korematsu is a role model for all people of the
United States who love the United States and the promises
contained in the Constitution of the United States, and the
strength and perseverance of Fred Korematsu serve as an
inspiration for all people who strive for equality and justice.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration to
Fred Korematsu, in recognition of his contributions to civil rights,
his loyalty and patriotism to the Nation, and his dedication to justice
and equality.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the presentation
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred
to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the
Secretary.
(c) Smithsonian Institution.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal
under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for
display as appropriate and made available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Smithsonian Institution shall make the gold medal received
under paragraph (1) available for--
(A) display, particularly at the National Portrait
Gallery; and
(B) loan, as appropriate, so that the medal may be
displayed elsewhere.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States
Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31,
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
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