Operation Protect and Defend Celebrates Law Day

By Maggy Krell and Patricia Sturdevant

Photography by Ken Rabiroff

On May 4, 2006, the Operation Protect and Defend program held its annual awards banquet at the Sterling Hotel in Sacramento. The evening began with the presentation of colors led by Boy Scout Troop 50 and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by local jazz vocalist Vivian Lee. The 160 attorneys, teachers, judges, students, and parents in attendance then enjoyed an inspirational keynote address delivered by United States District Court Magistrate Judge Edward Chen. His comments went to the heart of Protect and Defend's mission: to educate the public, particularly high school students, on the importance of our constitution and the civil rights and civil liberties that it protects.

Judge Chen gave unique insight into the life and motivations of an American hero, and his own former client, Fred Korematsu. (see photo, previous page.) Mr. Korematsu led the fight against World War II internment camps when he and several thousand other Japanese Americans, many of whom, like Korematsu, were United States citizens, were forced from their homes and jobs and imprisoned without legal process. Absent any individualized suspicions, the federal government incarcerated all people determined to be of Japanese ancestry based on the mere fact that the United States was at war with Japan and the Japanese people living in America were suspected of having ties to the enemy and thus posed a danger to national security during a time of war. Mr. Korematsu’s brave challenge to being incarcerated went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

In a 6-3 decision, the majority of the Court was compelled by the wartime hysteria, finding that the Executive Order excluding Japanese Americans from the West Coast was justified by the climate of war and the national security interests at stake. While Mr. Korematsu is renowned for his legal battle against the injustice committed by the United States government, Judge Chen described Korematsu as a shy, hard-working family man who simply wanted to be treated fairly, like all other Americans. When Mr. Korematsu was ordered to an interment camp, he was most upset about being separated from his girlfriend, who was ironically of Italian descent. He noted that, although the United States was also at war with Italy, there was no comparable movement toward incarcerating all Italian-Americans.

It took more than four decades for justice to be served in Mr. Korematsu’s case. Led by Peter Irons, a Professor at University of California San Diego, a dedicated group of attorneys discovered that the government’s rationale for interning the Japanese was based on false information and fabricated evidence. Judge Chen, co-counsel to Mr. Korematsu at the time, filed a writ of error coram nobus, which was heard by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco in 1983. After a pointed speech from Mr. Korematsu himself, Judge Patel found that the government committed an injustice against the Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II. A room full of Japanese Americans, many of whom were victims of the internment, waited anxiously, and then cried and celebrated as the ruling was delivered.

Judge Chen’s illuminating speech and personal historical account breathed life into the program’s mission and gave everyone in the room a taste of the significance of protecting our constitutional rights and educating the public about our constitution and the protections it affords.

Again this year, several high school students were honored and recognized for the excellent essays they wrote after reading about Japanese interment and discussing constitutional rights in their high school classes. Students from several Sacramento area public high schools were awarded $1000 scholarships. Sacramento Superior Court Judges David Abbott and Russell Hom presented awards for excellence and inspiration in honor of Justice Puglia to four well-deserving students. The judges also presented four Bion Gregory Special Recognition Awards as well as teacher’s choice and lawyer’s choice awards. Finally an excellence in citizenship award was presented in honor of Robert Matsui to Thomas “Tac” Craven for his tireless dedication to community work and volunteerism.

The evening program provided a welcome reminder of our oath as attorneys to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. An important part of fulfilling this oath is reaching out into the community and making sure that attorneys are not the only people who understand the rights to which all Americans are entitled. By continuing with its mission, Protect and Defend provides a wonderful opportunity for attorneys and judges to fulfill their civic responsibilities by visiting high school classrooms and sharing with students. There is no better way to honor heroes like Fred Korematsu than to teach the lessons we have learned from his fight for justice.

July / August 2006