Korematsu v. United States: Is My Father’s Case Still Relevant? – Murphy Lecture

Korematsu v. United States: Is My Father’s Case Still Relevant?

In 2018, the Supreme Court overruled its notorious World War II decision upholding the removal of Fred Korematsu and tens of thousands of other innocent Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Or so it said. It announced this in Trump v. Hawaii, a case upholding what the president called a “Muslim ban,” so some remain doubtful that the danger of the Korematsu decision has truly passed.

This year’s Murphy Distinguished Lecture features Dr. Karen Korematsu on the continued relevance of her father’s legendary fight for his constitutional rights during one of the most challenging moments in U.S. history. His remarkable story of courage, resilience, and commitment to civil rights for all will echo loudly in the law school’s rotunda at a time when constitutional rights and values are once again challenged.

About the speaker:

Dr. Karen Korematsu is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute
and the daughter of the late civil rights icon, Fred Korematsu. Since her father’s passing in 2005,
Karen has carried on his legacy as a national public speaker and educator, traveling throughout
the country advocating for civil liberties, social justice, civics, and ethnic studies education.
Her message encompasses Fred’s story, legal history, the relevance of his case to today’s issues
and the promotion of Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution on January 30th
in perpetuity for all fifty states.

She has presented to K-12 schools, colleges, universities, law schools, national and state
conferences, including the National Judicial College, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and
the South Carolina State Judicial Conference. She has signed on to amicus briefs in several cases
opposing violations of constitutional rights arising after 9/11, including Odah v. United
States, Turkman v. Ashcroft, Hedges v. Obama, and Hassan v. City of New York and Trump v.
Hawaii.

In 2015, Karen was inducted as the first non-lawyer member of the National Asian Pacific
American Bar Association. She serves on the board of directors of Advancing Justice-AAJC. She
serves on the National Advisory Board of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at
the University of California, Irvine, School of Law.

She has been interviewed on radio, podcasts and TV. Her Op/Ed’s have appeared in the NY
Times and the Washington Post. Karen has received numerous awards and honors including
GMNY 2015 Isidore Starr Award, Muslim Advocates-Voice of Freedom Award,
the ACLU Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award, and in 2017 was a recipient of the
Key to the City of Dearborn, Michigan by the Mayor of Dearborn.

Karen received her first honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from St. Michael’s College in
Burlington, Vermont, May 2019. She received her second honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters
from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, May 2022.