Korematsu v. United States (1944)

1) Link to the Actual Opinion
Read the U.S. Reports opinion (PDF)

2) Summary of the Opinion
Fred Korematsu, a U.S. citizen of Japanese descent, was convicted for violating a military exclusion order that required Japanese Americans to relocate to internment camps during World War II. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction, ruling that the exclusion was justified by wartime military necessity.

3) Why It Mattered
Korematsu is one of the most infamous Supreme Court rulings. It legitimized mass internment of Japanese Americans and stood for decades as precedent for extreme deference to the government in wartime.