John M. Fitzgerald shared an observation on the meaning of justice in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin’s Question of the Day, citing the example of Gordon Hirabayashi.
Gordon Hirabayashi courageously challenged the U.S. government’s treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II by disregarding a military-imposed curfew, refusing to register for internment, and then moving for the dismissal of the resulting indictment on constitutional grounds. While the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed his conviction for violation of the military-imposed curfew and did not reach his challenge to the internment order (see Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U.S. 81 (1943)), Dr. Hirabayashi received some vindication later in his life and even posthumously.
Most recently, just this year, President Obama awarded Dr. Hirabayashi a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.