What This Bill Does
This bill awards a Congressional Gold Medal (a formal honor given by Congress) after death to Fred Korematsu to recognize his contributions to civil rights. The bill also directs the Treasury Department to create the medal and give it to the Smithsonian Institution (a national museum) for public display and research.
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Who It Affects
The bill directly affects:
- The Smithsonian Institution (which will receive and display the medal)
- The Secretary of the Treasury (who will design and create the medal)
- The Speaker of the House of Representatives and President pro tempore (leader) of the Senate (who will arrange the presentation)
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Key Provisions
- The Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate will make arrangements for the posthumous medal presentation on behalf of Congress, and the medal will recognize Korematsu's contributions to civil rights, loyalty and patriotism to the United States, and dedication to justice and equality. (Sec. 3(a))
- The Secretary of the Treasury will create a gold medal with appropriate design, emblems, devices, and inscriptions, including an image and name of "Fred Korematsu." (Sec. 3(b))
- Following the medal award, the gold medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution where it will be displayed and available for research. (Sec. 3(c)(1))
- The Secretary may create and sell duplicate bronze medals at a price that covers production costs including labor, materials, dies, machinery use, and overhead expenses. (Sec. 4)
- Money from selling duplicate bronze medals goes into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund (a government account for the mint's operations). (Sec. 6(b))
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What Changes
If this bill becomes law, the federal government will officially honor Fred Korematsu with a Congressional Gold Medal and place it in the Smithsonian Institution for public viewing. The Treasury Department will be authorized to spend money on creating the medal and may sell duplicate bronze versions to cover those costs.
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Important Definitions
The bill does not explicitly define key terms. It refers to "numismatic items" (meaning coins or medals valued by collectors) but does not define this phrase in the bill text itself.
##
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 137
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 United States, and his dedication to justice and equality.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY 30, 2023
Ms.
HIRONO
(for
herself,
Ms.
DUCKWORTH,
Ms.
BALDWIN,
Mr.
BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. CASEY, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. HAS-
SAN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. KING, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr.
MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE,
and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
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 United States,
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 2023’’.
5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
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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3
•S 137 IS
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 Act as the ‘‘Civilian Exclusion Order’’) directing
6
that all people of Japanese ancestry be removed
7
from designated areas of the West Coast after May
8
9, 1942, because people of Japanese ancestry in the
9
designated areas were considered to pose a threat to
10
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 21⁄2 months 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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•S 137 IS
(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 Jackson who de-
13
scribed the validation of the principle of racial dis-
14
crimination as a ‘‘loaded weapon, ready for the hand
15
of any authority that can bring forward a plausible
16
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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•S 137 IS
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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•S 137 IS
(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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•S 137 IS
(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 were 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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•S 137 IS
(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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•S 137 IS
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) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—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 single gold medal of appropriate design in commemo-
8
ration to Fred Korematsu, in recognition of his contribu-
9
tions to civil rights, his loyalty and patriotism to the
10
United States, and his dedication to justice and equality.
11
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For 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) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.—
19
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the
20
gold medal in honor of Fred Korematsu, the gold
21
medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution,
22
where it will be available for display as appropriate
23
and available for research.
24
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•S 137 IS
(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 under section 3, at a price
10
sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor,
11
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
12
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
13
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to
14
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51
15
of title 31, United States Code.
16
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section
17
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck
18
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.
19
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF
20
SALE.
21
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is
22
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint
23
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
24
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•S 137 IS
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under
1
this Act.
2
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]