I have just been looking at an unusual Supreme Court case involving Japanese Americans. The case (from 1890-91) concerns Jugiro Shibuya, an Issei sailor living in Brooklyn who killed another in a brawl, and was convicted of muder and sentenced to death under New York's then-brand new electric chair law. His lawyers argued before the court, claiming that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment, but the Court refused to accept that argument, and rejected the appeal without opinion. Then, after lawyers for another prisoner (an African American) scheduled for execution protested on the grounds that Blacks had been excluded from the jury, Jugiro's lawyers protested that there were no Japanese on his! The Supreme Court again declined to intervene, and Jugiro became only the second person in history to go to the electric chair--now how come we never hear about THAT in the boosters' litany of Japanese American accomplishments!:)