On February 22, 1965, US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter died in Washington, DC. Learn more about Felix Frankfurter from Oyez.
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On February 22, 1979, Saint Lucia gained independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign nation. Read the Constitution of Saint Lucia.
On February 21, 1975, former US Attorney General John Mitchell, Nixon Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and domestic adviser John Ehrlichman were sentenced to prison terms of 2 1/2 to 8 years for obstructing justice in the Watergate affair. Learn more about John Mitchell from the Washington Post.
On February 21, 1971, the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna, Austria. The Convention was promulgated to regulate psychotropic drugs, extending the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which applied to cannabis-, cocoa-, and opium-based drugs. In 1988, the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances [...]
On February 20, 1809, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in United States v. Peters that the legal power of the federal judiciary is greater than that of any individual state: “If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy [...]
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 9066, authorizing the wartime internment of Japanese Americans. Learn more about the internment of Japanese Americans from the National Archives.
On February 19, 1861, Tsar Alexander II promulgated the Emancipation Manifesto, which abolished serfdom in Russia after over two hundred years. Read the Emancipation Manifesto.
On February 18, 1970, a US jury rendered its verdicts in the trial of the Chicago Seven, who were charged in connection with the violence that had erupted at the 1968 Democratic Convention. The jury acquitted all defendants on conspiracy while finding five guilty of intent to incite a riot while crossing state lines. Learn [...]
On February 18, 1943, the Nazi government of Germany arrested the two leaders of the White Rose movement, brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl. The White Rose was a German group, primarily comprised of students, that advocated non-violent resistance to the Nazi government in Germany. After the Scholls were arrested, the remaining members of [...]
On February 17, 1964, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population. Learn more about Congressional redistricting from the Brennan Center for Justice.
