U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told law students at the
University of Hawaii law school Monday that the nation's highest
court was wrong to uphold the internment of Japanese-Americans during
World War II but that he wouldn't be surprised if the court issued
a similar ruling during a future conflict.
Scalia
was responding to a question about the court's 1944 decision in
Korematsu v. United States, which upheld the convictions of
Gordon Hirabayashi and Fred Korematsu for violating an order to
report to an internment camp.
"Well, of
course, Korematsu was wrong. And I think we have repudiated in a
later case. But you are kidding yourself if you think the same
thing will not happen again," Scalia told students and faculty during a
lunchtime question-and-answer session.
Scalia cited a Latin expression meaning "In times of war, the laws fall silent."
"That's
what was going on — the panic about the war and the invasion of the
Pacific and whatnot. That's what happens. It was wrong, but I
would not be surprised to see it happen again, in time of war. It's no
justification but it is the reality," he said.
Avi
Soifer, the law school's dean, said he believed Scalia was suggesting
people always have to be vigilant and that the law alone can't be
trusted to provide protection.
Soifer
said it was good to hear Scalia say the Korematsu ruling was wrong,
adding that the justice has been among those who have reined in
the power of military commissions regardless of the administration.
"We do
need a court that sometimes will say there are individual or group
rights that are not being adequately protected by the democratic
process," Soifer said.
Scalia was appointed to the nation's highest court in 1986, making him the longest-serving justice currently on the court.
The 77-year-old spoke after teaching a class. He didn't take questions from media.
Before
appearing at the law school, Scalia held a "talk story" session with 54
St. Andrew's Priory juniors and seniors in the Queen Emma Library
of the school's Kennedy Hall.
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