Supreme Court Acknowledges Internment Camps In Travel Ban Decision

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The U.S. Supreme Court is apologizing for its part in forcing Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II.

The apology came from Chief Justice John Roberts, in his written delivery of the court's opinion on President Donald Trump's travel ban. The U.S. government forced more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans into camps in the name of national security.

And in 1944 the Supreme Court, in a case called Korematsu vs United States, upheld the right of the government to do it.

Now comes a first-time apology from the high court.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, "Korematsu was gravely wrong the day it was decided, has been overruled in the Court of history, and -to be clear- "has no place in law under the Constitution."

Previously, a federal court overturned the conviction after evidence surfaced of attorneys deliberately suppressing evidence. But Tuesday's remarks in a decision upholding Trump's travel ban was the first acknowledgment by the high court.

Christine Umeda was 4-years-old when her family of nine was forced from their Sacramento home and into an internment camp.

She says the Supreme Court apology is significant.

"It's like some kind of acknowledgment," Umeda said.

Umeda was separated from her parents when she became sick, leaving her with vivid nightmares into her adulthood.

"Where I was put into this panel truck that had no windows, and the door would close, and it would be black and I would scream," Umeda said.

The court's apology comes within its upholding of a travel ban the Imeda says is targeting another ethnic group— Muslims.

"So it's really incumbent on us to speak up for other people," Umeda said.

Umeda and her husband are both survivors of internment camps. In several weeks they will be visiting a preserved internment camp i the California desert. Umeda is calling it a pilgrimage.