Fred Korematsu was the plaintiff behind the infamous Korematsu v. United States case which challenged the constitutionality of Japanese American internment camps during WWII. Though Fred lost the case at the Supreme Court level, he would go on to be an important advocate for racial equality and civil right

Fred wrote amicus briefs for three Supreme Court cases about the dangers of restricting civil liberties in the wake of 9/11. He also served on the Constitution Project’s Liberty and Security Committee. Fred was the first Asian American to be honored by a statewide holiday, with California, Hawaii, Florida, and Virginia celebrating Fred Korematsu Day on January 30th of each year. The decision in Korematsu v. United States has since been explicitly overruled.

Happy last day of class! We’re sending students some good luck for finals, but since we can’t do anything more, we’ve compiled some community care tips to help support AAPI communities while offering you some ideas for what to do when you’re feeling glum. Here is our first one!

From specifically anti-Asian laws to citizenship stripping during WWII, those who identify as API have faced a long history of systemic racism and discrimination. Below is just one example of the legal creativity used to withhold rights from API.

In 1922, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that Takao Ozawa, a Japanese American who had lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, was ineligible for citizenship under the Naturalization Act of 1906, which allowed only free white or black people to become American citizens. The Court declined to test whiteness based on skin color, stating that whiteness was to be measured by popular understanding of “Caucasian.”

In 1923, Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian American and a sergeant who served the U.S. in WWI, had already been granted his naturalization petition. The same Supreme Court unanimously stripped him of that petition, stating he was ineligible for citizenship under the Act. The Court declined Thind’s arguments that he was technically Caucasian, based on anthropological evidence that Indian people could be considered Aryan, which falls under the umbrella of “Caucasian.” Without overruling Ozawa, the Court rejected using “Caucasian” to test for whiteness, opting for a more common speech understanding (i.e., skin color).

Anna May Wong (born Wong Liu Tsong) was the first Asian American female Hollywood movie star. Despite achieving great fame, anti-miscegenation laws prevented her from landing romantic leading roles, and she was even passed over for the leading role in The Good Earth for a German actress. During WWII, she devoted her time to China war relief while forming a closer connection to her Chinese heritage.

As we rev up and head into finals week, we wanted to celebrate and commemorate achievements and contributions of API in the U.S. as part of API Heritage Month.

Did you know that Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is a nationally recognized celebration? Originally, the celebration lasted only the first 10 days of May, but was eventually expanded to encompass the entire month of May, starting in 1992. The month of May has important implications for API history: the first Japanese immigrant arrived in the U.S. in May 1843, and the transcontinental railroad was completed by Chinese laborers in May 1869. Both of these events were laden with histories of racial discrimination, violence, and heartbreak. Eventually, much of that history was buried due to political silence.

Thus, we want to share with you one piece of information per day (be it a fact, article, experience, or piece of popular culture) to unearth and celebrate that history together. In just this year, Asian Americans have grappled with so much unwanted attention. Now is the time to unite across all our ethnic and cultural backgrounds to stand in solidarity as Asian Americans.

For today, to bring it all back home to law school, we wanted to share this study by Yale Law School, which shows surprising statistics about Asian Americans in the law. Did you know that “Asian Americans are the largest minority group in big law firms, but they have the highest attrition rates and the lowest ratio of partners to associates”? Read on for more, and leave us your thoughts!