Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SR47 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	III
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. RES. 47
5	5	Designating January 30, 2025, as ‘‘Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties
6	6	and the Constitution’’.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY30, 2025
9	9	Ms. H
10	10	IRONO(for herself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER,
11	11	Ms. C
12	12	ORTEZMASTO, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr.
13	13	P
14	14	ADILLA, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) submitted the following
15	15	resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
16	16	RESOLUTION
17	17	Designating January 30, 2025, as ‘‘Fred Korematsu Day
18	18	of Civil Liberties and the Constitution’’.
19	19	Whereas Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was born on January
20	20	30, 1919, in Oakland, California, to Japanese immigrant
21	21	parents;
22	22	Whereas Fred Korematsu attempted to enlist in the United
23	23	States National Guard and the United States Coast
24	24	Guard after the United States entered World War II and
25	25	was rejected because of his Japanese ancestry;
26	26	Whereas after the signing of Executive Order 9066 on Feb-
27	27	ruary 19, 1942, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
28	28	which authorized the forced imprisonment of 120,000
29	29	people of Japanese descent into prison camps, the major-
30	30	VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR47.IS SR47
31	31	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
32	32	•SRES 47 IS
33	33	ity of whom were American citizens, Fred Korematsu re-
34	34	sisted that infringement of American civil liberties and
35	35	attempted to continue his life as an American citizen
36	36	until he was arrested, convicted, and incarcerated at a
37	37	concentration camp in Topaz, Utah;
38	38	Whereas, in 1944, Fred Korematsu appealed his case to the
39	39	United States Supreme Court, which ruled against him,
40	40	declaring in Korematsu v. United States that Japanese
41	41	incarceration was a ‘‘military necessity’’ rather than an
42	42	egregious act of racial discrimination;
43	43	Whereas, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter created the Com-
44	44	mission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civil-
45	45	ians (CWRIC), which concluded in 1983 that the forced
46	46	removal and imprisonment of people of Japanese ancestry
47	47	was motivated by ‘‘race prejudice, war hysteria, and a
48	48	failure of political leadership’’;
49	49	Whereas, during this time, researchers at the University of
50	50	California, San Diego uncovered documents from the
51	51	United States Department of Justice in which intel-
52	52	ligence agencies, including the FBI, the FCC, and the
53	53	Office of Naval Intelligence, denied that Japanese-Ameri-
54	54	cans ever committed wrongdoing, but which were never
55	55	presented to the United States Supreme Court during
56	56	Korematsu v. United States;
57	57	Whereas following the conclusion of the Commission on War-
58	58	time Relocation and Internment of Civilians and the find-
59	59	ings on governmental misconduct, Fred Korematsu re-
60	60	opened his case, and on November 10, 1983, the United
61	61	States District Court of Northern California in San
62	62	Francisco overturned his conviction;
63	63	VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR47.IS SR47
64	64	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
65	65	•SRES 47 IS
66	66	Whereas Fred Korematsu’s courageously fought injustice by
67	67	challenging the constitutionality of Executive Order
68	68	9066, and his lawsuit remains an important lesson about
69	69	the fragility of individual civil liberties during a time
70	70	when the Nation is experiencing threats to its national
71	71	security;
72	72	Whereas Fred Korematsu continued to fight injustice and de-
73	73	fend the liberties of Muslim people when, in 2003, he
74	74	warned in an amicus brief that the United States ex-
75	75	treme national security measures following the terrorist
76	76	attacks of September 11, 2001, were reminiscent of the
77	77	mistakes of the past that undermined American civil lib-
78	78	erties, including the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the
79	79	suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the
80	80	prosecution of dissenters during World War I, the Red
81	81	Scare of 1919–1920, the interment of people of Japanese
82	82	descent during World War II, and the era of loyalty
83	83	oaths and McCarthyism during the Cold War;
84	84	Whereas the democratic character of the American people will
85	85	be nourished and enhanced by opportunities for civic edu-
86	86	cation on the significant challenges that have been posed
87	87	to our Constitution;
88	88	Whereas a day of annual national reflection on how the Fred
89	89	Korematsu quest for justice is important to educating the
90	90	American people about preserving civil liberties and the
91	91	principle of equality before the law; and
92	92	Whereas the States of California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia,
93	93	Arizona, New Jersey, and Michigan have already des-
94	94	ignated January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day to com-
95	95	memorate his lifelong fight for civil liberties and the Con-
96	96	stitution: Now, therefore, be it
97	97	VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR47.IS SR47
98	98	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
99	99	•SRES 47 IS
100	100	Resolved, That the Senate— 1
101	101	(1) designates January 30, 2025, as ‘‘Fred 2
102	102	Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitu-3
103	103	tion’’; 4
104	104	(2) recognizes Fred Korematsu’s bravery and 5
105	105	resilience in the face of adversity; and 6
106	106	(3) encourages all people to reflect on the im-7
107	107	portance of political leadership and vigilance and on 8
108	108	the values of justice and civil rights during times of 9
109	109	uncertainty and emergency. 10
110	110	Æ
111	111	VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR47.IS SR47
112	112	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB