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{ "url_title": "Public Law 503", "title_sort": "publiclaw503", "links": { "json": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Public%20Law%20503/?format=api", "html": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Public%20Law%20503?format=api" }, "modified": "2024-02-01T21:57:59", "title": "Public Law 503", "body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <p>\n Legislation that allowed federal courts to enforce the provisions of\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Executive_Order_9066/\" title=\"Executive Order 9066\">\n Executive Order 9066\n </a>\n . Taking just twelve days to pass both sides of Congress and be signed by President\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Franklin_D._Roosevelt/\" title=\"Franklin D. Roosevelt\">\n Franklin D. Roosevelt\n </a>\n after its introduction on March 9, 1942, Public Law 503 specified the criminal penalties for violating military restrictions on civilians authorized by EO 9066.\n </p>\n <p>\n Shortly after the president issued EO 9066 on February 19, 1942, attention in Washington turned towards legislation that would authorize enforcement of its provisions. Because Attorney General\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Francis_Biddle/\" title=\"Francis Biddle\">\n Francis Biddle\n </a>\n did not feel such legislation was necessary, it was left to the War Department to draft it, a task taken up by\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Karl_Bendetsen/\" title=\"Karl Bendetsen\">\n Karl Bendetsen\n </a>\n . By February 22, Bendetsen had sent a draft to his boss, Assistant Secretary of War\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/John_McCloy/\" title=\"John McCloy\">\n John McCloy\n </a>\n that proposed making violations a felony with penalties of up to a $5,000 fine and five years of imprisonment. Thinking Bendetsen's penalties too harsh, McCloy made violations a misdemeanor and limited the maximum prison term to one year. After the\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Western_Defense_Command/\" title=\"Western Defense Command\">\n Western Defense Command\n </a>\n issued Public Proclamation 1 on March 2, designating\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Military_Areas_1_and_2/\" title=\"Military Areas 1 and 2\">\n Military Areas 1 and 2\n </a>\n , Secretary of War\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Henry_Stimson/\" title=\"Henry Stimson\">\n Henry Stimson\n </a>\n sent the draft a week later to Senator Robert B. Reynolds (D–NC), the chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee and to House Speaker Sam Rayburn (D–TX), along with a cover letter explaining that the proposed legislation was \"to provide for enforcement in the Federal/criminal courts of orders issued under the authority of Executive Order... No. 9066.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n [1]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n Congress moved with unusual speed. The legislation was introduced in the Senate on March 9 and in the House on March 10. The Senate Committee on Military Affairs considered the legislation on March 13 in a one hour session in which Colonel B. M. Bryan, chief of the Alien Division,\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Provost_Marshal_General%27s_Office,_Army/\" title=\"Provost Marshal General's Office, Army\">\n Office of the Provost Marshal General\n </a>\n , was the only one to testify. On March 17, the House Committee on Military Affairs considered it for a mere half-hour, again with Bryan providing an explanation. Both committees approved the measure unanimously. On March 19 the full Senate and full House considered the bill. The only hint of dissent in either body was the observation by Ohio Republican Senator Robert A. Taft, who stated \"I think this is probably the 'sloppiest' criminal law I have ever read or seen anywhere.\" He added, \"I have no doubt that in peacetime no man could ever be convicted under it, because the court would find that it was so indefinite and so uncertain that it could not be enforced under the Constitution.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n [2]\n </a>\n </sup>\n Both bodies passed the measure by voice vote. It was on the president's desk by March 20 and signed into law on March 21, 1942.\n </p>\n <div id=\"authorByline\">\n <b>\n Authored by\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Brian_Niiya/\" title=\"Brian Niiya\">\n Brian Niiya\n </a>\n , Densho\n </b>\n </div>\n <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n Niiya, Brian\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n For More Information\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p>\n Irons, Peter.\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/justiceatwar00iron\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n <i>\n Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese American Internment Cases\n </i>\n .\n </a>\n New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.\n </p>\n <p>\n tenBroek, Jacobus, Edward N. Barnhart, and Floyd Matson.\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/prejudicewarcons00tenb\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n <i>\n Prejudice, War, and the Constitution\n </i>\n </a>\n . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954.\n </p>\n <p>\n Text of Public Law 503 from the National Archives,\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5730387\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5730387\n </a>\n .\n </p>\n </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n Footnotes\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n <div class=\"mw-references-wrap\">\n <ol class=\"references\">\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Jacobus tenBroek, Edward N. Barnhart, and Floyd Matson,\n <i>\n Prejudice, War, and the Constitution\n </i>\n (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954), 113–14.\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Peter Irons,\n <i>\n Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese American Internment Cases\n </i>\n (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 68.\n </span>\n </li>\n </ol>\n </div>\n </div>\n <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20240418160718\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.012 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.017 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 86/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 514/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 58/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 5/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 885/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00% 13.318 1 -total\n 18.80% 2.503 1 Template:Reflist\n 11.26% 1.500 1 Template:Published\n 11.21% 1.493 1 Template:AuthorByline\n-->\n <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:1435-0!canonical and timestamp 20240418160718 and revision id 36040\n -->\n </div>\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"toplink\">\n <a href=\"#top\">\n <i class=\"icon-chevron-up\">\n </i>\n Top\n </a>\n</div>", "categories": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/categories/Definitions/?format=api" ], "sources": [], "coordinates": {}, "authors": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/authors/Brian%20Niiya/?format=api" ], "ddr_topic_terms": [ "https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/facet/topics/topics-188/objects/" ], "prev_page": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Psychological%20effects%20of%20camp/?format=api", "next_page": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Puyallup%20(detention%20facility)/?format=api" }