Korematsu (Fred T.) v. United States Coram Nobis Litigation collection, 1942-1988

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Summary

Title:
Fred T. Korematsu v. United States Coram Nobis Litigation collection
Dates:
1942-1988
Creators:
Fred T. Korematsu Litigation Team members Dale Minami, Lorraine Bannai, Dennis Hayashi, Karen Kai, Robert Rusky, Don Tamaki
Abstract:
The Korematsu litigation documents are the record of the Korematsu team's litigation work. Not only were they actively engaged in litigation and court affairs on behalf of Mr. Korematsu, but they also saw themselves equally engaged in community outreach, educational efforts, and the redress movement as a whole. Their legal and non-legal research and their involvement in related coram nobis cases, legislative initiatives, media projects testify to the breadth and depth of activities they viewed integral and essential to litigating this case. The 49 document cases of documents are a distillation of the personal attorneys' files of Dale Minami, Lorraine Bannai, Dennis Hayashi, Don Tamaki, the Asian Law Caucus, Robert Rusky, Karen Kai, and Ed Chen. Files were not received from Leigh-Ann Miyasato, Peter Irons, Eric Yamamoto, Akira Togasaki, or other individuals or organizations involved in the case.
Extent:
49 pamphlet boxes (24.5 linear ft.)
Language:
Finding aid is written in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Fred T. Korematsu v. United States Coram Nobis Litigation collection (Collection 545). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains the files of the attorneys who assisted Mr. Korematsu in reopening his case. They chronicle both the events leading up to the 1944 Korematsu decision and the 1981 effort by a group of politically committed lawyers determined to challenge the judicial system and re-write history. The Korematsu litigation documents are the record of the Korematsu team's litigation work. Not only were they actively engaged in litigation and court affairs on behalf of Mr. Korematsu, but they also saw themselves equally engaged in community outreach, educational efforts, and the redress movement as a whole. Their legal and non-legal research and their involvement in related coram nobis cases, legislative initiatives, media projects testify to the breadth and depth of activities they viewed integral and essential to litigating this case.The 49 document cases of documents are a distillation of the personal attorneys' files of Dale Minami, Lorraine Bannai, Dennis Hayashi, Don Tamaki, the Asian Law Caucus, Robert Rusky, Karen Kai, and Ed Chen. Files were not received from Leigh-Ann Miyasato, Peter Irons, Eric Yamamoto, Akira Togasaki, or other individuals or organizations involved in the case. As each attorney maintained his or her personal files, there were numerous duplicates which have been subsequently removed. Selected materials were also duplicated and submitted to the California State Library in Sacramento, Calif., with funding from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Project.

Biographical / historical:

Fred Korematsu was born in 1919, in Oakland, Calif., and lived there with his Issei (first generation) parents, who operated a nursery. He and his three brothers lived in Oakland until the spring of 1942, when he and approximately 110,000 other American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry were ordered to leave their West Coast homes and report for internment. Mr. Korematsu refused to leave the community in which he grew up and was arrested on May 30, 1942. He was tried and convicted in Federal Court. In a landmark case, the United States Supreme Court upheld his conviction and held that the military orders removing Japanese Americans from the West Coast were lawful under the United States Constitution. Mr. Korematsu's case stood for over forty years as constitutional validation of one of the most egregious deprivations of civil rights in modern United States history. In 1981, a number of documents were found which proved that the United States government suppressed, altered, and destroyed material evidence during its prosecution of Mr. Korematsu's case. Based on these documents, Mr. Korematsu, represented by a team of young lawyers, filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis, an obscure legal proceeding which allows a criminal defendant to challenge his conviction based on manifest injustice. Mr. Korematsu's petition was granted, and his conviction was vacated in a decision that helped remove the scar on the Constitution caused by the original Supreme Court case and helped heal the wounds inflicted on an entire community of people. Mr. Korematsu lived in Northern California until his passing on March 30, 2005. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, and his two children, Karen and Ken Korematsu.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Fred and Kathryn Korematsu, 1999.
Arrangement:

The documents in this collection include both legal and non-legal materials, reflecting both the depth and range of the litigation process as well as the legal team's community participation. Accordingly, the documents are arranged to give intellectual coherence while at the same time providing an adequate depiction of the Team's organizational and legal activities. With a few exceptions, materials were arranged chronologically by date, into the following series:

  • I. Documents filed with the Court and discovery
  • II. Memoranda and correspondence
  • III. Community education
  • IV. Government documents
  • V. Other related coram nobis cases
  • VI. Miscellaneous documents
  • VII. Attorneys' personal files.

Physical / technical requirements:

COLLECTION CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: Special equipment or further processing may be required for viewing. To access digital materials you must notify the reference desk in advance of your visit.

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Marjorie Lee, James Sang Chi, Elaine W. Kuo, Monica L. Merritt, Katherine Ng; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
Date Prepared:
© 2006
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from database containing container list structure and data, encoding added via MS Access and Notetab Pro; Date of source: June 2005; frontmatter gathered MARC Record. Supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Caroline Cubé.

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Collection is open for research, with the exception of Box 49, which is restricted for access until a duplicate transfer of public-use audio copy of program on micro-cassette is completed. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Terms of access:

Copyright of portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. The library can grant permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish or quote must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian, Department of Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Fred T. Korematsu v. United States Coram Nobis Litigation collection (Collection 545). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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