The Supreme Court, of the corporate United states, hand down Downes v. Bidwell: residents of federal enclaves are not U.s. subject-citizens.  Congress may assess direct taxes only in federal enclaves (Alaska, Cuba, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Republic of Hawaii, Nevada, Ohio, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, etc.)—not the States:

       [W]e have in this country … two national governments; one to be maintained under the Constitution, with all of its restrictions; and the other to be maintained by Congress outside and independently of that instrument, by exercising such powers as other nations of the earth are accustomed to.

       In a dissenting opinion, Justice John Marshall Harlan expresses his fears that the Opinion of the Court will be used to legitimize holding permanent colonies by warning, “It will be an evil day…if the theory of a government outside the supreme law of the land finds lodgment in our [C]onstitutional jurisprudence.”

       NOTE: Although the Opinion of the Court uses the word “country” here, the editors believe that they meant to use the word “Union,” which is a union of sovereign States under a federal system, with a central government whose powers are strictly limited by a respected Constitution; as opposed to “nation,” in which a central government, with almost limitless power, treats its constituent states as mere enclaves, provinces, or sub-divisions of its greater self.

       [restored 5/28/2022]