The U.S. Supreme Court case Charles D. Cole, Mary Cole, Herman Noelker et al. v. Norborne Land Drainage District of Carroll County, Missouri, H.H Franklin, L.Williams et al., 1925 revolved around the issue of taxation and land drainage in Missouri's Carroll County. The plaintiffs (Charles D.Cole and others) were landowners who challenged a special tax assessment imposed by the Norborne Land Drainage District for a proposed drainage improvement project on their lands that they deemed unnecessary and excessive in cost compared to its benefits.The defendants included officials from the district as well as other property owners who supported the project. The court ruled against the plaintiffs stating that it was not within its jurisdiction to interfere with state tax matters unless there is clear violation or transgression of rights secured by fundamental law.It held that if an assessment is made upon property specially benefited by local improvements according to benefits received,it does not violate due process clause even though it results in placing upon such property more than its proportionate share of expense for public improvements generally.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Charles D. Cole, Mary Cole, Herman Noelker et al. v. Norborne Land Drainage District of Carroll County, Missouri, H.H Franklin, L.Williams et al., argued that the majority's decision to uphold a tax assessment on lands within a drainage district was unjust and unconstitutional. The dissenters believed that the taxation scheme violated due process rights because it did not provide landowners with an opportunity to challenge their assessments before they were finalized and levied against them. They also disagreed with the majority's interpretation of state law regarding who could be considered "benefited" by improvements made by a drainage district; they felt this definition had been stretched too far beyond its original intent to include those who received no direct or tangible benefit from such projects but were still taxed for them nonetheless.