Also on this date
Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification.
In 1917,
In 1944,
the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.
In 1987,
Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a major Wall Street insider-trading scandal. (Boesky served about two years of his sentence).
In 1998,
the House debated articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton. South Carolina carried out the nation’s 500th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1977.
In 2000,
the Electoral College cast its ballots, with President-elect George W. Bush receiving the expected 271; Al Gore, however, received 266, one fewer than expected, because of a District of Columbia Democrat who had left her ballot blank to protest the district’s lack of representation in Congress.
In 2018,
the Trump administration banned bump stocks, the firearm attachments that allowed semiautomatic weapons to fire like machine guns, and gave gun owners until late March to turn in or destroy the devices.
In 2018,
President Donald Trump authorized the Defense Department to create a new Space Command, an effort to better organize and advance the military’s operations in space.
The U.S. Senate approved repeal of the military’s 17-year “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on openly gay troops in a 65-31 vote. (President Barack Obama later signed it into law.)
United Nations Security Council members unanimously approved a resolution endorsing a peace process for Syria.
The U.S. House impeached President Donald Trump on two charges, sending his case to the Senate for trial; the articles of impeachment accused him of abusing the power of the presidency to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election and then obstructing Congress’ investigation.
Associated Press