Fighting for Justice: The Coram Nobis Cases

In February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9006, which permitted the incarceration of 120,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry. Although most Japanese-Americans--whose only "crime" was their heritage--chose not to resist the orders, three men (Minoru Yasui, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Fred Korematsu) fought the curfew and internment orders on constitutional grounds. They were convicted and their convictions were upheld at the time by the U.S. Supreme Court. Forty years later, lawyers representing the men filed a writ of error "coram nobis," contending the government deliberately suppressed, altered, or destroyed crucial evidence in these cases. The first part of Fighting for Justice gives a brief background on the political events leading up to the evacuation and internment, followed by the long and frustrating campaign for justice led by mostly third-generation Japanese-American legal teams on behalf of their clients (complicated by the fact that Minoru Yasui died in 1986, before his name was cleared). The video's second half offers a panel discussion held at the Smithsonian Institution, featuring the two surviving resisters, and some of the attorneys who labored so long on the case. Had the lengthy introductions, digressions, and other filler presented here been trimmed a bit, this could have been recommended for most audiences as a timeless cautionary tale about prejudice. As it stands, only academic libraries will want to consider this for its rich source material. (Note: A companion video, Day of Remembrance: The First National Ceremony, featuring a panel discussion and a candlelighting ceremony honoring the victims of wartime relocation, is also available for $100, or $175 when purchased together with Fighting for Justice.) Aud: C. (S. Rees)