The Puzzle of the Japanese-American Draft in 1944

In January 1944, the Secretary of War announced that Japanese-American men would be subject to the draft. Prior to that, they were eligible only to volunteer. Later that year, the Court decided Korematsu and said nothing about this point, which would seem to cut against the Court's holding. Let's think through the issue a little.

How could the government impose serious restrictions on Japanese-American male citizens and subject them to the draft at the same time? Some of these draftees refused to serve on this ground and were prosecuted. One Federal District Court (in U.S. v. Kuwabara) quashed such a prosecution, stating:

"It is shocking to the conscience that an American citizen be confined on the ground of disloyalty, and then, while so under duress and restraint, be compelled to serve in the armed forces, or be prosecuted for not yielding to such compulsion."

Other District Courts disagreed. Their rationale was that being drafted meant that these men were no longer under special restrictions. They were now being treated just like all other male citizens who were drafted. (And you could not be a conscientious objector on the ground that you were mistreated for being of Japanese ancestry). President Truman later pardoned these Japanese-American draft resistors.

Another point (covered well in Eric Muller's scholarship on this era) is that Japanese-American groups pushed hard to make their men draft eligible so they could show their valor in combat. Thus, they did not argue in Korematsu that the liberty restrictions were unlawful after January 1944. And none of the Justices noted the issue. I'm working on an article about the constitutional issues surrounding the draft and hope to flesh this out further.