2025 Civil Liberties Symposium — The Coram Nobis Cases

Kathryn Bannai was lead counsel in Gordon Hirabayashi’s coram nobis case from 1982 to early 1985. Among other critical work, she successfully defeated the government’s effort to dismiss Hirabayashi’s case and persuaded the court to grant an evidentiary hearing. That hearing led to overturning Hirabayashi’s convictions for resisting the curfew and exclusion orders promulgated under U. S Executive Order 9066.

In addition to practicing law, she adjudicated cases for the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and Seattle’s Public Safety Civil Service Commission. She has served as president of the Seattle Chapter JACL (Japanese American Citizens League); president of the New York Chapter JACL; member of the Board of Trustees of Eastern Washington University; member of the Board of Directors of Little Tokyo Community Council in Los Angeles, California; and Advisory Council member of Kizuna (non-profit organization in Little Tokyo supporting future leaders.). She was also co-chair of the committee that nominated Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi for recognition that led to her receiving posthumously the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal.

Kathryn is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American National Museum . She received her law degree from University of California Law San Francisco (formerly University of California Hastings).

Lorraine K. Bannai is Professor Emerita and Director Emerita of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law. After earning her Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco School of Law in California, she joined what is now the San Francisco law firm of Minami Tamaki. While there, she served on the legal team that successfully challenged the infamous Korematsu v. United States decision, which had upheld the forced mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.

In her 25-year teaching career, Bannai wrote and spoke widely on the incarceration’s present-day relevance, the dangers of prejudice, and the importance of upholding the rule of law. She has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and co-authored numerous amicus briefs in civil rights cases across the country, including Hedges v. Obama (challenging the NDAA ［National Defense Authorization Act］ detention provisions) and Trump v. Hawaii (challenging the Muslim travel ban).

Her books include Race, Rights, and National Security: Law and the Japanese American Incarceration and Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice. She also served on numerous civil rights and community boards, including the Asian Bar Association of Washington, American Civil Liberties Union, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission.

Peggy Nagae served as lead attorney in re-opening Minoru Yasui v. United States, one of the three coram nobis cases that successfully overturned the World War II (WWII) U.S. Supreme Court convictions of Japanese Americans who resisted exclusion in 1942. A Sansei (third generation Japanese American) whose family was incarcerated during WWII, Peggy has dedicated her career to advancing justice, equity, and inclusion.

She was the first woman president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, served on the JACL National Redress Committee that helped secure passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and was appointed by U.S. President Clinton to the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund Board. More recently, she co-chaired the effort to honor Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi with the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal, awarded posthumously at the U.S. White House in 2025.

In addition to her legal work, Peggy has been a leader in numerous civil rights and community organizations, co-founded Asian American Pacific Islander Winning Together, and received the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award. She continues to write, speak, and consult nationally on building a multiracial, inclusive democracy.

James Hattori is a veteran journalist whose career spanned local television news in San Diego and San Francisco, California; Spokane, and Seattle, Washington; and Houston, Texas. Later, he held correspondent posts for CBS News, CNN, and NBC News in Dallas, Texas; Tokyo, Japan; New York, New York; and Atlanta, Georgia.

Over the course of his career, Hattori covered a wide range of stories — from space launches and hurricanes to terrorism, tsunamis, technology, and the Iraq war. In the 60 Minutes television program, he profiled the Aum Shinrikyo cult behind the Tokyo subway gas attack. He was also nominated for an Emmy award (merits in the television industry) for live coverage of an Iraqi truck bombing in Baghdad. Hattori recalls some of his fondest moments at KING-TV in Seattle, especially covering Seafair and floatplanes from Lake Union. His mother and family were incarcerated at Tule Lake incarceration camp during World War II in 1942. Now retired, he lives in San Francisco.