Betsy Crites: Don’t legalize racism again

In response to the Jan. 30 editorial “A reckless ban on refugees and immigrants”: I encourage Republicans to build on their proud history of protecting the rights of immigrants.

In 1944, the Roosevelt Supreme Court, dominated by liberal Democratic judges, upheld the legality of imprisoning all Japanese and Japanese-American residents in concentration camps in the name of national security. Republican judges objected.

Writing for the dissent, Justice Frank Murphy said: “I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting, but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States. All residents of this nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to a foreign land.”

The current Congress and the courts would do well to remember the wisdom of Murphy and his GOP colleagues on the bench.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Betsy Crites: Don’t legalize racism again."