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Ex parte Endo

Supreme Court of the United States · 1944 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawHabeas CorpusWar PowersExecutive PowerDetentionhabeas corpuswartime detentionExecutive Order 9066

Facts

Mitsuye Endo was an American citizen of Japanese ancestry who was evacuated from Sacramento under military exclusion orders and placed in War Relocation Authority centers, first at Tule Lake and later at Topaz, Utah. In her habeas petition, she alleged that she was a loyal, law-abiding citizen, had not been charged with anything, and was being held under guard against her will. The government conceded that she was loyal, law-abiding, not suspected of disloyalty, and could not be held longer than necessary to separate the loyal from the disloyal and provide guidance for relocation. Even after leave clearance was granted, she remained detained because the Authority required compliance with its leave procedures.

Issue

Whether the War Relocation Authority had authority under Executive Order No. 9066, Executive Order No. 9102, and the Act of March 21, 1942 to detain a concededly loyal citizen subject to its leave procedure. The Court also considered whether the district court retained habeas jurisdiction after Endo was moved to a relocation center outside the district while the case was pending.

Rule

When wartime executive orders and implementing legislation are aimed at protecting the war effort against espionage and sabotage, any implied detention power must be narrowly confined to that objective. A concededly loyal citizen, whose detention no longer bears a relationship to preventing espionage or sabotage, may not be detained or conditionally released under such authority. In habeas, a district court that has acquired jurisdiction does not lose it because the petitioner is moved outside the district so long as a custodian within reach of the court's process remains in custody of the petitioner.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

During a declared war, the President issues an order authorizing exclusion from designated defense areas to protect shipyards and power stations from espionage and sabotage. A civilian relocation agency later keeps Nora Kim, a U.S. citizen in Phoenix, in a guarded housing center after formally determining she is loyal and not suspected of subversive conduct, because the agency wants time to arrange a job placement for her in New Mexico.

Is Nora's continued confinement most likely authorized under the wartime order and implementing statute?

Explanation. The majority construed wartime orders and statutes aimed at protecting the war effort against espionage and sabotage narrowly. Because detention was not expressly authorized, any detention authority had to be implied and confined to that precise purpose. Once a citizen's loyalty is conceded, continued confinement for administrative convenience such as arranging employment no longer bears the required relationship to preventing espionage or sabotage, so it is unauthorized.