Supreme Court Declines Case Over Lawsuit to Remove ‘Comfort Women’ Memorial
U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review challenge to California ‘comfort women’ statue
July 30, 2018
Rep. Adam Schiff honors Kim, Kortoshian, Porto as Women of the Year
July 30, 2018
The Supreme Court on Monday denied the review of a case seeking the removal of a “comfort women” memorial in a Southern California city.
The court’s decision concludes a three-year legal battle that began in 2014 when the Global Alliance for Historical Truth-US Corporation (GAHT-US) filed a lawsuit against the City of Glendale in Los Angeles County. It alleged that the city’s statue, which honors the mostly Korean women who were forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II, unconstitutionally interfered with the federal government’s exclusive authority to conduct foreign affairs.
The case was dismissed in a district and superior court. The dismissal was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016.
In February, the Japanese government had filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
RELATED: Advocates Protest After Japan Files Court Brief Supporting Removal of ‘Comfort Women’ Statue
Phyllis Kim, executive director of the Korean American Forum of California, the organization that led efforts to install the statue, told NBC News in an email that although this lawsuit was won, the fight against history revisionism is not over.
“We believe this was a frivolous lawsuit that shouldn’t have started in the first place,” she said. “Its only purpose was to put [a] gag order to the victims and silence the American citizens and local governments from speaking out and educating about the largest case of sex trafficking in modern history.”
Historians estimate that between 50,000 and 200,000 women from countries including Korea, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, were forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II.
The topic of “comfort women” has been a controversial issue. Advocates say that the Japanese government has long denied justice to comfort women, while opponents say there is no evidence supporting the claim that women were forced into sex slavery and that Japan has already apologized for its actions.
