Donald S. Voorhees; Judge Who Ruled on WWII Internment

Donald S. Voorhees, 72, the federal district judge who in 1986 ruled that the U.S. government 42 years earlier had improperly concealed evidence from the courts as to whether there was a military necessity of moving Japanese-Americans from their homes in the Western states to internment camps. Voorhees’ ruling overturned the conviction of Gordon K. Hirabayashi, who had fought relocation. Voorhees’ decision came soon after Congress decided to give $20,000 and an apology to each Japanese-American who been forced into the camps, although the money has yet to be appropriated. Voorhees also figured in a major school desegregation case in 1979 when he overturned an anti-busing initiative approved by voters in the state of Washington. His ruling, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowed the Seattle school district to carry out its desegregation plan. In Seattle on July 7 after surgery for a brain tumor.