I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 821
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Fred Korematsu,
in recognition of his contributions to civil rights, his loyalty and patriot-
ism to the Nation, and his dedication to justice and equality.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. T
AKANO(for himself, Mr. FONG, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. MALOY, Ms. MATSUI,
and Mrs. K
IM) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Fred
Korematsu, in recognition of his contributions to civil
rights, his loyalty and patriotism to the Nation, and
his dedication to justice and equality.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fred Korematsu Con-4
gressional Gold Medal Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
The Congress finds the following: 2
(1) On January 30, 1919, Fred Toyosaburo 3
Korematsu was born in Oakland, California, to Jap-4
anese immigrants. 5
(2) Fred Korematsu graduated from 6
Castlemont High School in 1937 and attempted to 7
enlist in the military twice but was unable to do so 8
because his selective service classification was 9
changed to enemy alien, even though Fred 10
Korematsu was a United States citizen. 11
(3) Fred Korematsu trained as a welder and 12
worked as a foreman at the docks in Oakland until 13
the date on which he and all Japanese Americans 14
were fired. 15
(4) On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the 16
military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the 17
United States to declare war against Japan. 18
(5) On February 19, 1942, President Franklin 19
D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. 20
Reg. 1407 (February 25, 1942)), which authorized 21
the Secretary of War to prescribe military areas— 22
(A) from which any or all people could be 23
excluded; and 24
(B) with respect to which, the right of any 25
person to enter, remain in, or leave would be 26
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subject to any restriction the Military Com-1
mander imposed in his discretion. 2
(6) On May 3, 1942, the Lieutenant General of 3
the Western Command of the Army issued Civilian 4
Exclusion Order 34 (May 3, 1942) (referred to in 5
this preamble as the ‘‘Civilian Exclusion Order’’) di-6
recting that all people of Japanese ancestry be re-7
moved from designated areas of the West Coast 8
after May 9, 1942, because people of Japanese an-9
cestry in the designated areas were considered to 10
pose a threat to national security. 11
(7) Fred Korematsu refused to comply with the 12
Civilian Exclusion Order and was arrested on May 13
30, 1942. 14
(8) After his arrest, Fred Korematsu— 15
(A) was held for 2
1
⁄2months in the Pre-16
sidio stockade in San Francisco, California; 17
(B) was convicted on September 8, 1942, 18
of violating the Civilian Exclusion Order and 19
sentenced to 5 years of probation; and 20
(C) was detained at Tanforan Assembly 21
Center, a former horse racetrack used as a 22
holding facility for Japanese Americans before 23
he was exiled with his family to the Topaz in-24
carceration camp in the State of Utah. 25
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(9) More than 120,000 Japanese Americans 1
were similarly detained, with no charges brought and 2
without due process, in 10 permanent War Reloca-3
tion Authority camps located in isolated desert areas 4
of the States of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colo-5
rado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. 6
(10) The people of the United States subject to 7
the Civilian Exclusion Order lost their homes, liveli-8
hoods, and the freedoms guaranteed to all people of 9
the United States. 10
(11) Fred Korematsu unsuccessfully challenged 11
the Civilian Exclusion Order as it applied to him 12
and appealed the decision of the United States Dis-13
trict Court to the United States Court of Appeals 14
for the Ninth Circuit, which sustained his conviction. 15
(12) Fred Korematsu was subsequently con-16
fined with his family in the incarceration camp in 17
Topaz, Utah, for 2 years, and during that time, 18
Fred Korematsu appealed his conviction to the Su-19
preme Court of the United States. 20
(13) On December 18, 1944, the Supreme 21
Court of the United States issued Korematsu v. 22
United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), which— 23
(A) upheld the conviction of Fred 24
Korematsu by a vote of 6 to 3; and 25
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(B) concluded that Fred Korematsu was 1
removed from his home not based on hostility 2
toward him or other Japanese Americans but 3
because the United States was at war with 4
Japan and the military feared a Japanese inva-5
sion of the West Coast. 6
(14) In his dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. 7
United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), Justice Frank 8
Murphy called the Civilian Exclusion Order the ‘‘le-9
galization of racism’’. 10
(15) Two other Supreme Court Justices dis-11
sented from the majority decision in Korematsu v. 12
United States, including Justice Robert H. Jackson 13
who described the validation of the principle of racial 14
discrimination as a ‘‘loaded weapon, ready for the 15
hand of any authority that can bring forward a 16
plausible claim of an urgent need’’. 17
(16) Fred Korematsu continued to maintain his 18
innocence for decades following World War II, and 19
his conviction hampered his ability to gain employ-20
ment. 21
(17) In 1982, legal historian Peter Irons and 22
researcher Aiko Yoshinaga-Herzig gained access to 23
Government documents under section 552 of title 5, 24
United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Free-25
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dom of Information Act’’), that indicate that while 1
the case of Fred Korematsu was before the Supreme 2
Court of the United States, the Federal Government 3
misled the Supreme Court of the United States and 4
suppressed findings that Japanese Americans on the 5
West Coast were not security threats. 6
(18) In light of the newly discovered informa-7
tion, Fred Korematsu filed a writ of error coram 8
nobis with the United States District Court for the 9
Northern District of California, and on November 10
10, 1983, United States District Judge Marilyn Hall 11
Patel issued her decision in Korematsu v. United 12
States, 584 F. Supp. 1406 (N.D. Cal. 1984), that— 13
(A) overturned the Federal conviction of 14
Fred Korematsu; 15
(B) concluded that, at the time that senior 16
Government officials presented their case before 17
the Supreme Court of the United States in 18
1944, the senior Government officials knew 19
there was no factual basis for the claim of mili-20
tary necessity for the Civil Exclusion Order; 21
(C) acknowledged that ‘‘the government 22
knowingly withheld information from the courts 23
when they were considering the critical question 24
of military necessity’’ in the original case; 25
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(D) recognized that ‘‘there is substantial 1
support in the record that the government de-2
liberately omitted relevant information and pro-3
vided misleading information in papers before 4
the court. The information was critical to the 5
court’s determination’’; and 6
(E) stated that although the decision of 7
the Supreme Court of the United States in 8
Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 9
(1944), remains on the pages of United States 10
legal and political history, ‘‘[a]s historical 11
precedent it stands as a constant caution that 12
in times of war or declared military necessity 13
our institutions must be vigilant in protecting 14
constitutional guarantees’’. 15
(19) The Commission on Wartime Relocation 16
and Internment of Civilians, authorized by Congress 17
in 1980 to review the facts and circumstances sur-18
rounding the relocation and incarceration of Japa-19
nese Americans under Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. 20
Reg. 1407 (February 25, 1942)), concluded that— 21
(A) the decision of the Supreme Court of 22
the United States in Korematsu v. United 23
States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), is overruled by 24
the court of history; 25
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(B) a grave personal injustice was done to 1
the United States citizens and resident aliens of 2
Japanese ancestry who, without individual re-3
view or any probative evidence against them, 4
were excluded, removed, and detained by the 5
United States during World War II; and 6
(C) the exclusion, removal, and detention 7
of United States citizens and resident aliens of 8
Japanese ancestry was motivated largely by 9
‘‘racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a fail-10
ure of political leadership’’. 11
(20) The overturning of the conviction of Fred 12
Korematsu and the findings of the Commission on 13
Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in-14
fluenced the decision by Congress to pass the Civil 15
Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.) to 16
request a Presidential apology and the symbolic pay-17
ment of compensation to people of Japanese ances-18
try who lost liberty or property due to discriminatory 19
actions of the Federal Government. 20
(21) On August 10, 1988, President Reagan 21
signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. 22
4211 et seq.), stating, ‘‘[H]ere we admit a wrong; 23
here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to 24
equal justice under the law.’’. 25
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(22) On January 15, 1998, President Clinton 1
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the 2
highest civilian award of the United States, to Fred 3
Korematsu, stating, ‘‘[i]n the long history of our 4
country’s constant search for justice, some names of 5
ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls: Plessy, 6
Brown, Parks. To that distinguished list, today we 7
add the name of Fred Korematsu.’’. 8
(23) Fred Korematsu remained a tireless advo-9
cate for civil liberties and justice throughout his life 10
by— 11
(A) speaking out against racial discrimina-12
tion and violence; and 13
(B) cautioning the Federal Government 14
against repeating mistakes of the past that sin-15
gled out individuals for heightened scrutiny on 16
the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, or reli-17
gion. 18
(24) On March 30, 2005, Fred Korematsu died 19
at the age of 86 in Marin County, California. 20
(25) Fred Korematsu is a role model for all 21
people of the United States who love the United 22
States and the promises contained in the Constitu-23
tion of the United States, and the strength and per-24
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severance of Fred Korematsu serve as an inspiration 1
for all people who strive for equality and justice. 2
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 3
(a) P
RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 4
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-5
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 6
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 7
of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration 8
to Fred Korematsu, in recognition of his contributions to 9
civil rights, his loyalty and patriotism to the Nation, and 10
his dedication to justice and equality. 11
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 12
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 13
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-14
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 15
devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec-16
retary. The design shall bear an image of, and inscription 17
of the name of, ‘‘Fred Korematsu’’. 18
(c) S
MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 20
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 21
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 22
it shall be available for display as appropriate and 23
made available for research. 24
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(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 1
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 2
make the gold medal awarded pursuant to this Act 3
available for display elsewhere, particularly at the 4
National Portrait Gallery, and that preference 5
should be given to locations affiliated with the 6
Smithsonian Institution. 7
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 8
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 9
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 10
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 11
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 12
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 13
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-14
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 15
51 of title 31, United States Code. 16
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 17
5134 and 5136 of title 3, United States Code, all medals 18
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 19
items. 20
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 21
SALE. 22
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 23
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 24
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-25
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essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 1
this Act. 2
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 3
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 5
Enterprise Fund. 6
Æ
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