Part III. Redress
The next two chapters pivot away from the wartime experiences of Japanese Americans, and toward their successful campaign for redress in the 1980s. Chapter 5 delves into the successful coram nobis cases, which reopened the wartime cases of Hirabayashi, Korematsu and Yasui—and eventually led to the nullification of their convictions and the deceptive factual basis on which they rested. Chapter 6 sums up the other major features of Japanese American redress, including path-breaking admissions at every branch of government—executive, judicial and legislative—of government wrongdoing toward a minority group during wartime.
Chapter 5: The Coram Nobis Litigation
Chapter 5 addresses the legal dimensions of redress for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. It starts by examining in detail the coram nobis litigation of the mid-1980s that reopened the infamous Korematsu, Hirabayashi and Yasui cases of the 1940s. We incorporated in the text rich documentary material, much of which is reproduced in its original form, to aid the study of lawyering strategy and judicial decisionmaking in the coram nobis cases.
Chapter 6: Executive and Congressional Action
Chapter 6 explores other avenues of redress in front of the Executive and Legislative branches of government. Under executive actions, the chapter includes President Ford’s original order rescinding Executive Order 9066 as well as the text of President George H.W. Bush’s apology to Japanese American internees.
Under congressional actions, the chapter discusses the findings of the Congressional Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilian’s (CWRIC) report regarding reparations, and the 1988 Civil Liberties Act passed into law by the 100th Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.