Continuing Legal Education Program

Information

An American Citizen - Law, Morality, and the Internment of Japanese American Citizens During World War Two

Co-sponsored with AK Bar Historians Committee

Tuesday, October 20, 2026
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Snowden Training Center & AK Bar Zoom
820 W 4^th Ave, Anchorage

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1.5 Ethics CLE Credits 
CLE# 2026023

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Registration fee: Free 

Free light lunch (pizza) to those who register by October 16

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This hour-long presentation will look at the legal and societal aspects of how the forced relocation and internment of Japanese-American citizens from the states of Washington, Oregon and California into government run camps during World War Two, came to pass and what lessons it may hold for government attorneys today. 

During WW2, pursuant to Executive Order  9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, the US Army in the western US forced 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the west coast states, into internment camps, referred to as War Relocation Centers.  Approximately half of these people were birthright US citizens, with the balance being in the US legally, but without a specific status.

The purpose of this presentation is for lawyers to learn from a sad chapter of US legal history how a policy, considered legal and constitutional (four cases involving Japanese American citizens went to the US Supreme Court and the Court determined that the actions of the US government, based on the Executive order, were constitutional in time of war) was imposed on a class of US citizens.  Although the Supreme Court’s action was claimed to be based on the necessities of war, it was ultimately plain that it was based on racism and therefor lacked any moral basis. 

A brief history of governmental and societal attitudes prior to and after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy, will be presented to set the stage for what followed.

Bainbridge Island Removal in Washington State and the Manzanar War Relocation Camp in California, will be used as case studies to explain how the process came about and the affect on the Japanese Americans citizens. 

This lesson of history will be explored in particular through a lens of how federal, state, and local government officials and lawyers responded to what was considered by many at the time, and virtually everyone now, to be immoral, as well as illegal and unconstitutional.  Lawyers included President Roosevelt, his Attorney General, the California Attorney General and later Governor of California, government attorneys and defense attorneys.  

This presentation will also look at the four US Supreme Court cases that considered the matter, (Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U.S. 81 (1943); Yasui v. United States, 320 U.S. 115 (1943); Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214; and Ex parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283 (1944)) and that upheld the removal and internment. (Mitsuye Endo, the only female of the four cases, brought a habeas corpus case and was ordered to be released by the Supreme Court, but they did not overrule their previous findings upholding the removal and internment).  

In each of the cases the Supreme Court began its opinion by identifying the petitioner as “an American citizen”.  The inspiration for the title is taken from this reference. 

The presentation will also look at whether the holdings of the four cases from the 1940s were actually overturned by Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667 (2018), as some claim.

Lastly, to encourage local government attorneys to further apply the lessons of these historic decisions to their own life and practice, the presentation will examine how attorneys might respond in the context of current Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct. In particular:

The Preamble to the Rules - “However, a lawyer is also guided by personal conscience”.

RPC 2.1 Advisor. “In rendering advice, a lawyer may refer not only to law but to other considerations such as moral, economic, social and political factors …” (Emphasis added).

This sad chapter of history will be used to encourage  lawyers today to think about how they should respond, advise and react, even when a law or regulation is considered legal and constitutional, but lacks any moral base.

*The inspiration for this presentation is derived from “Law, Justice, and the Holocaust”; a 3 hour CLE presented by a member of the Holocaust Center at the Alaska Bar Association Convention in 2010 and was approved for 3 ethics credits.  It looked at how anti-Jewish laws in Nazi Germany and how they were gradually imposed through a legal process and the response of the German bar at the time.

This will be presented via Power Point which will include appropriate historic photographs.  The Power Point will be available as a handout and will include appropriate legal citations.

Faculty:

Todd Sherwood retired last year from his position as a Deputy Borough Attorney with the Kenai Peninsula Borough Legal Department in Soldotna.  

He received his BA from Bemidji State University in Minnesota in 1981 graduating Summa Cum Laude with Departmental Honors in History.  Part of his effort in earning departmental honors was writing an award-winning paper of primary historical research entitled: “In Full Regalia: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan in a Small Northern Minnesota Town in the 1920s”, about the brief rise of the KKK in the area where he attended high school.  He has had a life-long interest in history, especially military history, and in particular, the history of World War Two. 

Todd received his JD from William Mitchell College of Law in 1986. 

He came to Alaska in 1988 as a Judge Advocate (a military attorney – often referred to as a JAG) on active duty with the Air Force. After his tour of duty concluded, he stayed in Alaska and - over the next 35 years - worked as a prosecutor for the State of Alaska in Kenai, as the Borough Attorney for the North Slope Borough in Utqiagvik (and later as Special Counsel out of their Anchorage office) and as an Assistant Municipal Attorney for the Municipality of Anchorage.  

His military career with the Air Force ultimately extended over 15 years and encompassed both the Cold War and the Global War on Terror. He served as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate at Elmendorf AFB (later renamed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson) on both active duty and in the Air Force Reserves.  While in the Alaska Air National Guard, he served as the Staff Judge Advocate for the 168th Air Refueling Wing at Eielson AFB near North Pole, Alaska and achieved the rank of Major. During that time he also served on active duty for six months in support of Operation Noble Eagle at Tyndall AFB, Florida, and for nine months at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among the areas he focused on - and sometimes instructed in - while in the Air Force was the Law of Armed Conflict, including Rules of Engagement. 

Course Materials: A digital copy of the program materials is available 24 hours prior to the event by logging into your member dashboard at www.alaskabar.org/members. Select "My Course Materials," located under the "My Documents" header on the left side of your dashboard.

If you are registered for this program, you already have an AK Bar account and can access the materials. If you need assistance with your login information, please contact the AK Bar office at 907-272-7469.

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Explore More AK Bar Programs: Don’t miss out on our other upcoming events and CLE opportunities! To view our full calendar and register for additional programs - https://alaskabar.org/cle-mcle/member-events/.

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Photo & Media Release Statement: By registering for and attending this event, you grant the Alaska Bar Association permission to capture, record, and use your likeness in photographs, videos, and other media. These materials may be used for promotional, educational, or informational purposes in print, online, and social media.  

If you prefer not to be photographed or recorded, please notify event staff upon arrival. For questions regarding this policy, contact cle@alaskabar.org.

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Video On Demand (VOD): For those unable to attend, the event will be recorded and made available on the VOD catalog approximately 5 days after the event. This ensures you can access the content at your convenience.