karen korematsu is fred's daughter. she continues the family legacy as the executive director of the fred korematsu institute in san francisco. what does it do? what is your mission? karen: education. civil rights and human rights education. we are glad to have you at the table tonight. let's start with the big picture. when this case came to the court, exactly what were they asking for? peter: the issue is whether the government could single out a particular group of people, solely on the basis of their race or ethnicity, and put them in literal concentration camps, indefinitely, without any due process, without a hearing or a lawyer or a trial. whether this was justified under the government powers, as they asserted it, to protect the country from potential espionage or sabotage by members of this group. it was an issue that at the time, very few people, particularly outside of the west coast, had any real knowledge of japanese-americans and they sort of thought that, this group looks like the enemy, and they may actu

i mean, korematsu v. united states was about racial prejudice, clearly, and those lessons need to be learned. that is what brings relevancy to it, especially this situation after 9/11. my father was one of the first people to speak up, along with the japanese-american citizens'league, when they talk about rounding up americans and putting them in concentration camps. susan: do you think korematsu would have been decided differently if roosevelt's court packing went through? peter: it actually did go through, because of the conservative justices he wanted to replace actually left the court died or retired -- they died or retired, so he replaced them with his own choices. in a sense, what we are indicting here, and i think it is an indictment of the court, is the assumption that if these are good, liberal civil liberties, civil rights supporters, how could they do something like this? there are two points to consider. one, as i pointed out earlier, is that they were motivated largely by patriotism. that it

thank you to karen korematsu for telling us the story of korematsu versus the united states. thank you. ♪ landmark cases series continues on monday with a look at a case dealing with the steel industry labor dispute during the korean war. united steelworkers of america threatened to trigger a strike that would have shut the industry down and president truman ordered an executive order for the u.s. government to seize and operate the mills. the president was acting without congressional or constitutional authority. you can learn more about landmark cases which explores the human stories and constitutional dramas behind some of the most significant decisions of the supreme court. you can go to c-span.org. mr. roosevelt: tonight we are very fortunate to have george takei joining us. the incarceration of over a hundred 20,000 people of japanese dissent 32nd world war. george was a part of that. his own childhood experiences in that program informed the currently running broadway musical "allegiance." his acting career has spanned five decades. includes many roles, the first one w

he ends up writing the briefs for the korematsu case. and as time dose on, he learn -- goes on, he learns more and more about what the government has done supposedly to keep him safe, and he starts having doubts about where his true allegiance lies. and what i was trying to do there was take a historical episode that had some kind of relevance to the present. is so i'm trying to explore the question of what we do as a nation when we feel afraid, when we feel insecure and how we decide who we can trust, how we decide who's dangerous and how we decide whose interests count and who's going to be sacrificed to make the rest of us feel safer. and i do have a murder actually. no car chases. but i face the same problem that david is talking about which is i thought, oh, this legal material is all super fascinating, and that will carry the story. my editor disagreed, so i ended up putting in a murder or two. i won't even tell you how many there are. i don't want to spoil it. [laughter] but that was one of the challenges. the other challenge i fo

korematsu versus the united states. a class abouts the migration in the 19th century. he argues among the factors that contributed to the european exit is war and increase in population and decreasing the cost of transportation. he talks about how many migrants also moved for higher wagers or -- wages or to escape political pressure. his classes about 45 minutes. ofyou're looking at footage a vessel landing at ellis island in 1903. this film was taken by edison window and it gives us a into a moment of mass migration in the industrial atlantic. scene.ust take in the let's start with a question for you all. first of all, let me ask you what you saw in the video. what struck you most and let's just do hands. we will put you on the spot. what did you see in that video? film., mostly that they carried so little with them considering it was them starting a new life. seemed like they were carrying very little baggage. they did it have much with them. they brought very little with them to their new lives. what else? >> a lot of them were families and when we were learning at

dred scott, homer, fred korematsu, all weaker parties justly harmed by stronger ones who came to supreme court seeking justice inch each case the court sided with the strong and american law's tendency to favor the powerful could be one of its defining features inch the end this is most troubling thing about buck v. bell. presented the course with with a stark choice between the ideal and the opposite. the ancient principle of justice teaches the purpose of law ties ensure the strong do not harm the weekful the ueugenicsists said was the law's duty to help. the supreme court did not merely side with the strong, it enthusiastically urged them on, insisting it would be better for all the world if society's strongest members finished off people like carrie once and for all. even the babylonians in other words that helping the strong to obliterate the weak is the very opposite of justice. [applause] >> this made me feel uncoverrable but a i'm an on -- obstetrician for 40 years and have done abortions and one of the main reason he wad done abortionses was to eradicate month mongooid. and the

korematsu versus the united states. a class abouts the migration in the 19th century. he argues among the factors that contributed to the european exit is war and increase in population and decreasing the cost of transportation. he talks about how many migrants also moved for higher wagers or -- wages or to escape political pressure. his classes about 45 minutes. ofyou're looking at footage a vessel landing at ellis island in 1903. this film was taken by edison window and it gives us a into a moment of mass

korematsu v. united states, tonight at 10 eastern on c-span and c-span.org. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend booktv, television for serious readers. .. author timothy eagan. this is live coverage of the tucson book festival. >> good morning, welcome, i'm going to be moderating this conversation this morning with timothy eagan. i want to expand thanks to c-span tv and book tv for sponsoring and will last approximately one hour, including questions and answers till the end of the panel immediately following the session tim will be autographing books at the bookstore, that's 153 by the university bookstores . because you're enjoying the festival and i'm sure you all are, please consider joining the festival of the tucson festival of books. so become a friend by visiting the student union ballroom or go into our website. out of respect for the author, please turn off your cell phones, now, if you would. this morning it's our pleasure to have tim

i see gordon korematsu with his merit badges, general dewitt with his ribbons and medals. american soldiers standing in the camp guard towers and causing pacific beach at the young men at the aclu and congress and the president and the department of justice. here is how decide a constitutional case justice robertroberts once said the latt gadget alongside the constitution and see if it. he must have been joking i think no. there's no law that would decide his case. the only question is whom to trust. be these people are dangerous they can be excluded. if they are loyal they cannot. they are the faces industry and other voices in the breeze. whose word will be except with the japanese are loyal, the aclu says. there were no acts of sabotage on the coast before the evacuation. therthere have been no in a why. the evacuation was driven by racism and fear mongering. we did not so -- we did not know said the department of justice. they sent their children to japan for school. if of sabotage occurred, might that not mean they were gathering for a concerted bloke with the evacuat

he worked on the korematsu case. he was involved in the exclusion orders, working with earl warren at the time. ne is a true point -- is a appointee. you have four justices we would characterize as liberal. someone called in judicial activism. themour -- some would call judicial activism. moreour who were conservative. and tom c. clark. host: who wrote mapp. how did she have enough money to pursue this? she didn't.ns: prof. long: she had an unnamed and effector from the beginning, and -- unnamed benefactor from the beginning, and it cost about $800,000 to go to the supreme court. i tried very hard to get a name out of her, but i was unable to do so. host: next, from the oral argument in the supreme court. this is the first case in our landmark series where we actually can hear the audio of the actual oral arguments from the supreme court, because the supreme court began a taping system, which it maintains to this day, to tape all of their oral arguments. here is mr. kearns making his argument to the supreme court in

. ♪ >> let ourre presentation cases continues tomorrow night with korematsu versus the united states.nd a 6-3 decision the supreme court in 1944 upheld the government's forceful removal of 120,000 people of japanese descent. taken from their homes on the west coast to interment camps in remote areas of western and midwestern states during world war ii. learn more about the case tomorrow night at 10:00 eastern on c-span. i reminder, you can watch all of the episodes in the series on our website. c-span.org. >> american history tv on c-span3, this weekend, saturday night at 10:00 eastern on railamerica, -- >> tough, dirty, unpleasant are generally referred to as -- labor. understandably, then, this is the only areas in which the american farm labor supply fall short. mexicanpplemented by citizens, sometimes called nationals, or mexican nationals. the term is commonly used as percent rose. in spanish, this means a man who works with his arms and hands. in short, the big question in many minds is, why these people? >> this 20 minute film produced by the council of california growers noted

korematsu v.united states, tonight at 10 eastern on c-span and c-span.org. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend booktv, television for serious readers. ..