Korematsu II

Sar Shalom

During World War II, the US government claimed that simply being of Japanese ancestry constituted a threat to national security. In 1944, the Supreme Court the "Pressing public necessity may sometimes justify the existence of" restrictions against one specific group.

In justifying his decision yesterday, Justice Roberts engaged in a craven act of sophistry by arguing that Korematsu had “nothing to do” with the travel ban case. Roberts justified that statement by stating that internment was based “solely and explicitly on the basis of race.” The issue is, why did the Court find it legitimate to discriminate based solely and explicitly on the basis of race? The answer is that the Court accepted the government's claim that there was a national security necessity to do so.

Now that Justice Roberts describes Korematsu as being a racial decision, it must mean that he rejects the national security argument underlying it. If he rejects Roosevelt's claim of national security, what basis does he have for deferring to Trump's claim? Justice [J.] Roberts is no Justice [O.] Roberts.