He was city attorney of Detroit 1882-1886 and prepared the first complete charter for Detroit which was passed by the Michigan State Legislature in 1884.
In 1894, Corliss ran as a Republican and defeated incumbent Democrat Levi T. Griffin to be elected as a United States Representative from Michigan's 1st congressional district to the Fifty-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1895, until March 3, 1903.