US Supreme Court upheld discriminatory districting

On June 10, 1946, the US Supreme Court upheld uneven congressional districting plans in Colegrove v. Green. The case challenged an Illinois districting plan that concentrated voters into large districts in the center of the state and did not balance for population. The court reasoned that districting was a political question for the states to decide without judicial interference. This opinion was overturned less than 20 years later in Baker v. Carr, which set judicial standards for invoking political question doctrine.

Learn more about political question doctrine from Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt born

Carrie Chapman Catt, suffragist, womens' rights advocate and co-founder of the League of Women Voters, was born on January 9, 1859.

Visit the Carrie Chapman Catt Childhood Home.

Great Britain's first income tax introduced

On January 9, 1799, British Prime Minister William Pitt introduced Great Britain's first income tax. The tax was announced the previous December as a means of raising money for war against Napoleon. Pitt's successor, Henry Addington, repealed the tax when hostilities subsided in 1802. Addington then reinstated the tax during the following year when fighting was renewed. The Addington tax model later became the model for the modern British income tax. Learn about the history of income taxation in Great Britain from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.