Supreme Court upheld wartime detention of Japanese-Americans

Supreme Court upheld wartime detention of Japanese-Americans

December 18, 2009 05:00:00 am

On December 18, 1944, the US Supreme Court decided Korematsu v. United States, upholding the wartime relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.

Read Executive Order 9066, issued by President Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, under which the internments were authorized. View photos from the Japanese American internment camps, collected by the University of Utah Library.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Line of Demarcation divides the New World between Spain and Portugal

On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI promulgated the Line of Demarcation, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal in response the return of Christopher Columbus from his discovery of the American continents. However, neither country was entirely satisfied with the placement of the Line. A year later on June 7, 1494, the two nations signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which moved the Line of Demarcation further west, giving Portugal claim to Brazil.

Kent State student shootings precipitated lawsuits

On May 4, 1970, National Guardsmen at Kent State University opened fire on students protesting the US invasion of Cambodia, killing four.

Review a legal chronology of the Kent State shootings, from May 5, 1970 (the day the FBI investigation started) to January 4, 1979 (the day the state of Ohio reached an out-of-court settlement for $675,000 with victims and relatives of victims).