Yamashita v. Hinkle, 260 U.S. 199 (1922), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of the state of Washington's Alien Land Law.[1] The law prohibited Asians from owning property. Washington's attorney general maintained that in order for Japanese people to fit in, their "marked physical characteristics" would have to be destroyed, that "the Negro, the Indian and the Chinaman" had already demonstrated assimilation was not possible for them. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case, brought by Takuji Yamashita, and affirmed this race-based prohibition, citing its immediately prior issued decision in Takao Ozawa v. United States. Ozawa had upheld the constitutionality of barring anyone other than "free white persons" and "persons of African nativity or ... descent" to naturalize, and affirmed the racial classifications of previous court decisions.

Yamashita v. Hinkle
Argued October 3–4, 1922
Decided November 22, 1922
Full case nameTakuji Yamashita, et al. v. Hinkle, Secretary of State of the State of Washington
Citations260 U.S. 199 (more)
43 S. Ct. 69; 67 L. Ed. 209, 1922 U.S. LEXIS 2358
Holding
Washington's Alien Land Law is not unconstitutional.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William H. Taft
Associate Justices
Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr.
Willis Van Devanter · Mahlon Pitney
James C. McReynolds · Louis Brandeis
George Sutherland
Case opinion
MajoritySutherland, joined by unanimous

Washington's Alien Land Law would not be repealed until 1966.

References edit

  1. ^ Yamashita v. Hinkle, 260 U.S. 199 (1922).

External links edit