Final answer:
Fred Korematsu is the Japanese American whose Supreme Court case challenged the constitutionality of internment during World War II. He was initially defeated in Korematsu v. United States but later had his conviction vacated.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Japanese American man whose case went to the Supreme Court is Fred Korematsu. Korematsu's case is a significant part of American legal and civil rights history.
Korematsu defied Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and after being arrested, his case escalated to the Supreme Court. In a landmark decision, Korematsu v. United States (1944), the Court controversially upheld the government's internment policy in a 6-3 vote. However, decades later, evidence surfaced showing the government had withheld important information during the case, and Korematsu successfully had his conviction vacated in the 1980s.
Despite his initial defeat in the Supreme Court, his case has continued to be an important symbol in the struggle for civil liberties. The case prompted later governmental actions such as the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which officially apologized and provided reparations to surviving internment camp detainees.