By a vote of 6 to 2, the Supreme Court refused to save General Tomoyuki Yamashita from death by hanging. The majority's routine opinion held merely that the Manila military court which sentenced Yamashita had been legally set up, that it did not violate any military rules, laws or the Constitution.
More noteworthy was the minority report of Justice Frank Murphy. Said he: "[Yamashita] was rushed to trial under an improper charge, given insufficient time to prepare an adequate defense . . . and summarily sentenced to be hanged. In all this needless and unseemly haste there was no serious attempt...
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