Mr. Korematsu fought the discriminatory federal order, bringing his case to the Supreme Court in 1944. The court sided with the government, ruling that national security outweighed civil liberties.

It would take nearly 40 years for Mr. Korematsu’s conviction to be overturned in Federal District Court in San Francisco, though the 1944 Supreme Court ruling still stands.

Mr. Korematsu, pictured above in 1996, remained a civil rights activist for the rest of his life. President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1998. (Here’s the video.)

Inyoung Kang contributed reporting.

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