"Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." - United States Constitution ("The Bill")
Japanese-American public meeting at an internment camp, at which only English was allowed to be spoken, and Japanese was outlawed ("The Two")
"Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." - The United States Constitution ("The Bill")
" Amendment V No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." - The United States Constitution ("The Bill")
"Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." - U.S. Constitution ("The Bill")
Hospital life at Japanese-American internment camps often lacked much privacy ("The Internment")
"Amendment XV The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude--..." - The United States Constitution ("The Bill")
"Amendment XIV All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." - The United States Constitution ("The Bill")
Over the course of Japanese-American internment, a number of constitutional rights were violated by the United States government. While these abuses were never freely admitted by the United States, or the Supreme Court, on further analysis we can conclude that the rights to the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and many others were violated ("Summary").
Religious rights at Japanese-American internment camps were one of the first victims of the human rights abuses. At the internment camps, the practice of the Shinto religion was outright outlawed, and Buddhism was severely restricted by the ban on Japanese written materials, which was necessary for worship ("Summary"). Overall, the practice of any Eastern religion was highly discouraged, and banned in the case of Shintoism. Denying these Japanese-Americans their right to worship the religion that their ancestors had done for thousands of years was a downright human rights disgrace.
At the same time, the first Amendment to the United States Constitution was again violated, as Japanese-Americans were denied the guarantee of free speech while interned at the camps ("Summary"). Japanese-Americans were not allowed to speak Japanese while at public meetings, and public newspapers were not allowed to be printed in Japanese ("Summary"). In violation of the American right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, there are many documented cases of Japanese-Americans being labeled as "troublemakers", and sent to isolation camps, who attempted to petition the government for redress ("Summary").
Violating the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), prior to Japanese-American internment, had systematically searched the houses of Japanese-Americans without search warrants, seeking any item whose origin was Japanese ("Summary"). In essence, the FBI was basing its searches of the houses of over 100,000 people on the basis of their national origin, and no evidence of disloyalty to the United States whatsoever. This was an obvious and blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and a violation of the rights of Japanese-Americans. Simple and everyday items as common as short-wave radios that can be found in most American households were confiscated from Japanese-Americans ("Summary").
Perhaps the among the most grievous, the forced removal and subsequent detention of Japanese Americans resulted in the denial of witnesses in their favor, and the denial of assistance of counsel for their defense ("Summary"). Also, almost none of the 100,000 interned Japanese-Americans were given a speedy trial or access to any legal representative whatsoever upon accusations of their disloyalty to the United States ("Summary"). Finally, almost none of the Japanese-Americans were told of the crime that they had committed against the United States, as most of them had committed none ("Summary"). The 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was grievously violated, and Japanese-American rights were vehemently denied.
The "assembly centers" and "detention camps" that Japanese-Americans lived in during their internment were grossly inadequate for their conditions, and completely insufficient to what they deserved ("Summary"). The hospitals in the internment camps were understaffed, medical care poor and food was dietetically deficient ("Summary"). Each of these circumstances can qualify as cruel and unusual punishments for the Japanese-Americans, a violation of the 8th Amendment.
A large number of the Japanese-Americans interned were citizens of the United States. As citizens of the United States of voting age, it was their constitutional right under the 15th amendment to vote regardless of their race, color, or previous condition of servitude ("The Bill"). However, in the case of Japanese-American internment, the right to vote in public elections was denied, as the Japanese-Americans were prohibited from returning home to vote at their place of residence ("Summary").
Finally, in violation of Constitutional Amendment XIV, the equal protection of Japanese-Americans was violated because the government acted “solely on the basis of race and national ancestry” when identifying persons to be excluded from
designated “military areas” along the West Coast states ("Summary'). The Japanese-Americans were deprived of their liberty when they were forcefully taken from their homes and placed in internment camps full of armed guards, weaponry, and hostile soldiers.
These rights of Japanese-Americans that were broken under their internment reflect only a small portion of the total human rights abuses that were committed. Thankfully, under the Civil Rights Liberties act of the United States, signed by President Ronald Reagan, the United States Federal government would eventually apologize for the actions. Sadly, it was not able to take back the mistakes from the past, and a black stain was created on the human rights rec