Korematsu v. United States · ¶47

We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that had the petitioner attempted to violate Proclamation No. 4 and leave the military area in which he lived he would have been arrested and tried and convicted for violation of Proclamation No. 4. The two conflicting orders, one which commanded him to. stay and the other which commanded him to go, were nothing but a cleverly devised trap, to accomplish the real purpose of the military authority, which was to lock him up in a concentration camp. The only course by which the petitioner could avoid arrest and prosecution was to go to that camp according to. instructions to be given him when he reported at a Civil Control Center. We know that is the fact. Why should we set up a figmentary and artificial situation instead of addressing ourselves to the actualities of the case?

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 323, at 214 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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