| Kawakita v. United States | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued April 2 – April 3, 1952 Decided June 2, 1952 | |
| Full case name | Kawakita v. United States |
| Citations | 343 U.S. 717 (more) 72 S. Ct. 950; 96 L. Ed. 1249 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | 96 F. Supp. 824 (S.D. Cal. 1950); 190 F.2d 506 (9th Cir. 1951); cert. granted, 342 U.S. 932 (1952). |
| Holding | |
| A U.S. citizen owes allegiance to the United States and can be punished for treason, regardless of dual nationality or citizenship, and irrespective of country of residence. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Douglas, joined by Reed, Jackson, Minton |
| Dissent | Vinson, joined by Black, Burton |
| Frankfurter and Clark took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
Kawakita v. United States, 343 U.S. 717 (1952), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that a dual U.S./Japanese citizen could be convicted of treason against the United States for acts performed in Japan during World War II.[1] Tomoya Kawakita, born in California to Japanese parents, was in Japan when the war broke out and stayed in Japan until the war was over. After returning to the United States, he was arrested and charged with treason for having abused American prisoners of war. Kawakita claimed he could not be found guilty of treason since he had lost his U.S. citizenship while in Japan, but this argument was rejected by the courts (including the Supreme Court), which ruled that he had in fact retained his U.S. citizenship during the war. Originally sentenced to death, Kawakita's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was eventually released from prison, deported to Japan, and barred from ever returning to the United States.
Kawakita is currently one of the last people to be convicted of treason in the United States. One other person, John David Provoo, was convicted of treason in 1952. However, Provoo's conviction was overturned on appeal. The distinction currently goes to Herbert John Burgman, who was convicted of treason in 1949.