On American Soil: How Justice Became A Casualty of World War II

The Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society hosted a panel discussion of a book titled, On American Soil, How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II. Panelists included District Judge Robert Lasnik, as moderator, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Brown, UW Law Professor Mary Fan, and the book’s author, Jack Hamann. The book tells the story of the largest and longest court martial of WWII, which found 23 black enlisted soldiers guilty of a riot at Ft. Lawton that resulted in the death of an Italian prisoner of war. The story, while depressing, is relevant to Watergate only because the JAG prosecutor who bent lots of rules to reach politically-appealing verdicts was Lt. Col Leon Jaworski, who pulled many of the same tricks during the Watergate prosecutions. Here is the link to the two hour panel discussion: