Hirabayashi Case Synthesis Essay

There are a few different directions I could see myself taking the final research paper for this Capstone. They are still general and would probably need refining and narrowing down for the completed work. First, I have been thinking about the role of fear in Americans’ relationship with the Bill of Rights, and how there have been more than a few instances when Americans have sacrificed their constitutional protections for a feeling of security. Particularly, there have been a few Supreme Court cases where rights become less important than security especially when during war. Hirabayashi was a case which upheld the conviction of a Japanese American who violated a curfew imposed on him due to his race and ancestry after Pearl Harbor. More famously, Korematsu highlights this tension, where the Supreme Court felt it was constitutional for American Citizens to be detained without any sort of due process due to their race. Even the case of Schenck
This decision presented the now iconic “Fire in the Crowded Building” limitation to free speech, and claimed that opposing these actions of the government peacefully were akin to causing panic in a crowded area.Some preliminary searching to fact check my memory on the previous cases found an essay published by a researcher who investigates discrimination named Darwinder Sidhu whose work lead me to one more case that shows this phenomenon has recently impacted Muslims and others of Middle Eastern origins. In Ashcroft v. Iqbal, Javaid Iqbal alleged that after his arrest after the 9/11 for completely unrelated charges, he was classifed, held and treated like the group of people detained for the terrorist attacked, including being confined to his cell for 23 hours a day under bright lights and air conditioning even in winter. The only reason he was classified along with these detainees was his Pakistani