Military Area

Military Areas in the United States

Military Lands Definition

In American law, they are refered to lands granted to soldiers for military services.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, prompted widespread fear that Japan might try to invade the West Coast, and that persons of Japanese ancestry living there might aid the invasion. At that time, about 120,000 persons of Japanese descent lived in the West Coast States; some 70,000 of these were Nisei (native-born American citizens).

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 9066 authorizing the military to designate military areas and to exclude “any or all persons” from them. This order was intended to help protect the country from espionage or sabotage. Congress then passed a law requiring that all persons excluded from those military areas be sent to “war relocation camps” outside the sensitive military areas.

On March 2, 1942, the general in charge of the West Coast Defense Command issued the first of a series of orders that identified the entire Pacific Coast as Military Area No. 1. Soon, all persons of Japanese descent were ordered out of that area.

Fred Korematsu, a native-born American citizen, refused to leave his home in San Leandro, across the bay from San Francisco. He was arrested, charged with failure to report for relocation, and convicted in federal district court. After losing in the court of appeals, he appealed to the Supreme Court.

The arguments for Korematsu were:

  • Executive Order 9066 denied Korematsu his liberty without due process of law, in violation of the 5th Amendment.
  • The military does not have the authority to regulate civilian conduct, and the President cannot delegate that power to the military when martial law has not been declared.
  •  The order of exclusion created a classification based on race, in violation of the Constitution.

The arguments for the United States were the following:

  • Although the relocation would not be proper in peacetime, the danger of espionage and sabotage justified this denial of liberty to American citizens under wartime circumstances.
  • Because war had been declared, the President had the authority as commander in chief to issue such orders to the military.
  • The United States had been attacked by Japan, so it was logical that people of Japanese ancestry were suspect. The decision to relocate people from sensitive military areas was based on security concerns and not on racial prejudice.

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