ABSTRACT
In Terrace v. Thompson, the Supreme Court of the United States considered a Washington statute which forbade any kind of legal or equitable ownership of land in that state by aliens other than those who in good faith had declared their intention to become citizens of the United States. The plaintiffs contended that the act contravened the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in that the clause secures equal protection to all in the enjoyment of their rights, whether United States citizens or not. The petitioners contended that the statute deprived Fred of the equal protection of the laws as an American citizen; that it denied Kajiro equal protection of the laws as secured by the Fourteenth Amendment. The amendment, as originally adopted in 1943 when feeling was high against the Japanese as a result of the hostilities, was specifically directed against the Japanese.
