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Idaho 44: Minidoka - The role lawyers played in the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II

A reconstructed entry guard tower is silhouetted by the sunset at Minidoka National Historic Site, Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Jerome, Idaho. The original guard tower was one of eight such structures manned by the United States military on the site surrounded by miles of barbed wire.
Lindsey Wasson
/
Associated Press
A reconstructed entry guard tower is silhouetted by the sunset at Minidoka National Historic Site, Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Jerome, Idaho. The original guard tower was one of eight such structures manned by the United States military on the site surrounded by miles of barbed wire.

Next month the "2025 Civil Liberties Symposium" returns and it’s shining a spotlight on a series of legal battles that challenged injustice at the highest levels of government.

Centered around the Coram Nobis Cases, these courtroom fights overturned the wrongful convictions of three men who defied orders that later resulted in the mass detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.

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Now the lawyers who helped overturn those convictions are coming to Idaho to talk more about these cases and why this history still matters today. One of those lawyers, Lori Bannai, professor emeritus at Seattle University School of Law, joined Idaho Matters with symposium moderator Wendy Olson, a partner at Stoel Rives law firm.

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Hi, my name is Hannah and I’m the assistant producer for the Idaho Matters show here at BSPR. If you have a suggestion for an Idaho Matters segment, please email idahomatters@boisestate.edu.

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