Karen Korematsu to Give Keynote Speech at UC Law SF’s 2026 Commencement

Karen Korematsu, with dark hair, poses outdoors in a red dress, hand on her hip.

Karen Korematsu, a leading advocate for constitutional rights and education reform, will address graduates and guests at UC Law SF’s 2026 commencement ceremony this spring.

 

  • Karen Korematsu, civil rights advocate and founder of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, will deliver UC Law SF’s commencement address on May 11.
  • She is the daughter of Fred T. Korematsu, the civil rights activist who challenged wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.
  • Her work spans legal advocacy, civic engagement, and the promotion of ethnic studies education nationwide.

 

UC Law San Francisco welcomes Karen Korematsu, founder and president of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, as the keynote speaker for its 145th Commencement ceremony on Monday, May 11, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

She is the daughter of Fred T. Korematsu, the civil rights activist who challenged the World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans and took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2009, she founded the Fred T. Korematsu Institute to honor her father’s legacy. The national organization focuses on civil liberties, social justice, civic engagement, and ethnic studies education. The institute promotes Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, observed in multiple states, and provides educational resources to thousands of schools and educators nationwide.

Her work also extends to legal advocacy. She has signed onto amicus briefs in major court cases advocating for the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees and challenging the post-9/11 surveillance and detention of terrorism suspects allegedly targeted based on their race and religion. She also joined a brief challenging the first Trump administration’s travel ban affecting individuals from mostly majority-Muslim countries.

She is the first honorary non-lawyer member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABF) and serves on the boards of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC and the NAPABA Law Foundation. She is also on the National Advisory Board of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at UC Irvine School of Law.

As a State of California education ambassador, she has contributed to California’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum and advocated for ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement. She has addressed audiences across the country — from K-12 classrooms to federal judges — on civil liberties, social justice, and civic engagement. Her op-eds have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. She has also received numerous awards, including the ACLU-Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award, the Muslim Advocates Voice of Freedom Award, and honorary doctorates from St. Michael’s College in Vermont and Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

UC Law SF’s 145th Commencement ceremony will celebrate the graduating Class of 2026 and their achievements. The ceremony begins at 3:00 p.m. at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium near Civic Center Plaza.