Bill Text: NY J00273 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Memorializing Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim January 30, 2025, as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution in the State of New York

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-24 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [J00273 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-J00273-Introduced.html

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Senate Resolution No. 273

BY: Senator WALCZYK

        MEMORIALIZING  Governor  Kathy  Hochul to proclaim
        January 30, 2025, as Fred  Korematsu  Day  of  Civil
        Liberties  and  the Constitution in the State of New
        York

  WHEREAS, It is the custom of  this  Legislative  Body  to  recognize
those  milestones  and significant events which represent turning points
in our unique history and which are indelibly etched in the saga of  our
great Nation; and

  WHEREAS,  Attendant  to  such  concern,  and in full accord with its
long-standing traditions, this  Legislative  Body  is  justly  proud  to
memorialize  Governor  Kathy  Hochul  to  proclaim Thursday, January 30,
2025, as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the  Constitution  in
the State of New York; and

  WHEREAS,  In  February  1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive  Order  9066  which  allowed  local  military  commanders   to
designate  "military areas" as "exclusion zones," from which "any or all
persons may be excluded"; this power was used to declare that all people
of Japanese ancestry  were  excluded  from  the  entire  Pacific  coast,
including  all of California and much of Oregon, Washington and Arizona,
except for those in internment camps; and

  WHEREAS, Based on Executive Order 9066, on May 19, 1942,  more  than
117,000  Japanese  Americans were compelled to move into "War Relocation
Camps," via a series of exclusion orders; the camps  were  guarded,  and
barbed-wire-enclosed  detention  facilities located in desolate areas of
the Southwest; and

  WHEREAS,  As  a  result  of  internment,  entire  communities   were
destroyed, never to reappear; many Japanese Americans' lives were ruined
as they lost their jobs and their property; and

  WHEREAS,  Fred Korematsu was a Japanese American man born on January
30,  1919,  who, at the young age of 23, decided to stay in San Leandro,
California, knowingly violating Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34  of  the
United  States  Army;  he  was  arrested  and  convicted  and  jailed in
California, then was sent to Presico Stockade, in Topaz  War  Relocation
Center in Utah; and

  WHEREAS,  Fred  Korematsu  argued  that  Executive  Order  9066  was
unconstitutional and that it violated the Fifth Amendment to the  United
States  Constitution;  although no question was raised as to Korematsu's
loyalty to the United States, the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed  the
conviction, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case; and

  WHEREAS,   In   a   6-3  decision,  the  Supreme  Court  upheld  the
constitutionality of the  exclusion  orders;  the  opinion,  written  by
Supreme  Court Justice Hugo Black, held that the need to protect against
espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu's individual rights, and the  rights
of Americans of Japanese descent; and

  WHEREAS,  Fred  Korematsu's  conviction  for  evading internment was
overturned on November 10, 1983, after Korematsu challenged the  earlier
decision  in  a  ruling by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the United States
District Court for the Northern District of  California,  based  on  the
finding that the government had knowingly submitted false information to
the  Supreme  Court  that  had  a material effect on the Supreme Court's
decision; and

  WHEREAS, In 2011, the Department of Justice filed  official  notice,
conceding  it  was  in  error,  and  thus  erasing  the  case's value as
precedent for interning United States  citizens;  however,  the  Court's
opinion  remains  significant  both  for being the first instance of the
Supreme  Court  applying  the  strict  scrutiny   standard   to   racial
discrimination  by the government and for being one of only a handful of
cases in which the Court held that the government met that standard; and

  WHEREAS, In 2018, Chief  Justice  Roberts  stated  in  the  majority
opinion  in Trump v. Hawaii, 535 U.S., that "Korematsu was gravely wrong
the day it was decided, has been overruled in the court of history,  and
-to be clear- has no place in the law under the Constitution"; and

  WHEREAS,  In  1998,  Fred  T. Korematsu was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom; and

  WHEREAS, Fred Korematsu remained a civil rights leader, pioneer, and
key component in fighting injustices throughout the duration of his life
until his death on March 30, 2005; he was influential  in  lobbying  for
the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988; and

  WHEREAS,  The students of Northville Central High School, with great
purpose and dedication to  the  awareness  of  such  important  landmark
events  in  our  Nation's  history, so selflessly presented this idea of
Resolution topic to this esteemed Body; and

  WHEREAS, In the course of  history,  certain  events  exemplify  the
imperative  of  the  human  spirit  to  stand  up  to  oppression; it is
incumbent that we remember  such  events,  and  honor  those  courageous
individuals who fought for justice; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED,  That  this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim January 30, 2025, as  Fred
Korematsu  Day  of  Civil Liberties and the Constitution in the State of
New York; and be it further

  RESOLVED, That a copy of this  Resolution,  suitably  engrossed,  be
transmitted  to the Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New
York, and to the students of Northville Central High School.