January 4 – Michele Bachmann, a Republican presidential candidate, drops out of the race.[11]
January 5 – Classified documents are leaked detailing a range of advanced non-lethal weapons proposed or in development by the U.S. Armed Forces. Among the systems described are a laser-based weapon designed to divert hostile aircraft, an underwater sonic weapon for incapacitating SCUBA divers and a heat-based weapon designed to compel crowds to disperse.[12]
The U.S. Supreme Court makes an 8–1 decision in Minneci v. Pollard that abused inmates cannot sue a privately, state-hired prison company in federal court. The ruling went against prisoner Richard Lee Pollard in a dispute of damages over a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, claiming that Wackenhut/GEO, a privately run federal prison in California, had deprived him of adequate medical care.[16] Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer said that "... the existence of an Eighth Amendment-based damages action ... against ... a privately operated federal prison .. state tort law authorizes adequate alternative damages actions, ... actions that provide both significant deterrence and compensation ... For these reasons, where, as here, a federal prisoner seeks damages from privately employed personnel working at a privately operated federal prison, where the conduct allegedly amounts to a violation of the Eighth Amendment, and where that conduct is of a kind that typically falls within the scope of traditional state tort law (such as the conduct involving improper medical care at issue here), the prisoner must seek a remedy under state tort law. We cannot imply a Bivens remedy in such a case. The judgment of the Ninth Circuit is reversed."
January 14 – Miss Wisconsin, Laura Kaeppeler, wins Miss America pageant.[17]
January 16
Zappos.com computer system is hacked, compromising the personal information of 24 million customers.[18]
Jon Huntsman, a Republican presidential candidate, drops out of the race.[19]
The U.S. Supreme Court makes a unanimous 9–0 decision that telephone consumers can gain standing in federal courts to sue abusive telephone marketers. The ruling went against Arrow Financial Services (Arrow), a debt-collection agency, in a dispute of standing over the federal jurisdiction of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991. The act was passed so that out-of-state telemarketers, by operating interstate, could not escape state-law prohibitions on intrusive nuisance calls. Petitioner Marcus D. Mims filed a damages action in Federal District Court, alleging that respondent Arrow, seeking to collect a debt, violated the TCPA by repeatedly using an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded or artificial voice to call Mims's cellular phone without his consent.[21] Writing for the unanimous court, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that "We find no convincing reason to read into the TCPA's permissive grant of jurisdiction to state courts any barrier to the U. S. district courts' exercise of the general federal-question jurisdiction ... We hold, therefore, that federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over private suits arising under the TCPA ... The Eleventh Circuit erred in dismissing Mims's case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction ... The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."
The U.S. Supreme Court makes a 6–2 decision that restores copyright status to some foreign works previously in the public domain. The case challenges the constitutionality of the application of Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), a treaty seeking to equalize copyright protection on an international basis. The practical effect of the decision is that some works that were once free to use (such as Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Metropolis (1927), The Third Man (1949), the works of Igor Stravinsky, several works of H. G. Wells, including the film Things to Come (1936), as well as innumerable others) now must be paid for. The ruling went against Lawrence Golan, and many others, in a dispute of URAA bringing some works whose copyright had lapsed back under copyright.[22] Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that "... (if there is) ... copyright protection abroad ... (then there must be given) ... the same full term of protection ... (in the) ...U. S. ... Congress did so in §514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), which grants copyright protection to preexisting works of Berne member countries, protected in their country of origin, but lacking protection in the United States ... The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is therefore affirmed."
January 19
Kodak files for bankruptcy protection. Kodak is best known for its wide range of photographic film products.[23]
Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, drops out after seeing no way to continue his campaign past South Carolina.[24]
Joe Paterno, the winningest football coach in Penn State history, dies at the age of 85 from lung cancer.
January 23
The U.S. Supreme Court makes a unanimous 9–0 decision that government officials must obtain a search warrant permitting them to install a Global-Positioning-System (GPS) tracking device on citizens' private property. The ruling involves a Fourth Amendment case, the requirement of obtaining a valid warrant in searches by law enforcement. The court ruled in favor of Antoine Jones in a dispute that attaching a GPS device to private property in a public space still constitutes a search and therefore falls under the Fourth Amendment.[26] The opinion of the court was written by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia who said that "We decide whether the attachment of a Global-Positioning-System (GPS) tracking device to an individual's vehicle, and subsequent use of that device to monitor the vehicle's movements on public streets, constitutes a search or seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment ... The Fourth Amendment provides in relevant part that '[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.' It is beyond dispute that a vehicle is an 'effect' as that term is used in the Amendment. United States v. Chadwick, 433 U. S. 1, 12 (1977). We hold that the Government's installation of a GPS device on a target's vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a 'search.'"
An intense EF3 tornado strikes the northeastern part of the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area, killing one person, injuring 75 others, and caused over $18 million in damage.[27]
February 11 – Singer Whitney Houston is found dead at the age of 48 in her suite at the Los Angeles Beverly Hilton Hotel, which coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and triggered a worldwide outpouring of grief. Her death later impaired several major websites and services.
Researchers at Dartmouth College find that many organic food products that contain organic brown rice syrup have a much higher concentration of the toxic element arsenic. Brown rice syrup, used as an alternative for the much-maligned high fructose corn syrup, is said to contain environmental arsenic absorbed by the husk of the rice.[40]
February 18 – Legendary singer Whitney Houston is laid to rest in a private televised funeral in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey at the New Hope Baptist Church in which she was raised.
The U.S. Supreme Court makes a 6–3 decision that law enforcement officials do not need to issue Miranda warnings to prison inmates under questioning if these inmates are warned that they may end the interrogation at any time. The ruling involves an inmate who was removed from the general prison population and questioned. The court ruled against convict Randall Fields in a dispute that questioning without Miranda invocation was proper as long as the convict was advised of his freedom to leave.[42] The opinion of the court was written by Associate Justice Samuel Alito who said that "The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that our precedents clearly establish that a prisoner is in custody within the meaning of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966), if the prisoner is taken aside and questioned about events that occurred outside the prison walls. Our decisions, however, do not clearly establish such a rule, and therefore the Court of Appeals erred inholding that this rule provides a permissible basis for federal habeas relief under the relevant provision of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996(AEDPA), 28 U. S. C. §2254(d)(1). Indeed, the rule applied by the court below does not represent a correct interpretation of our Miranda case law. We therefore reverse."
Seven US Marines die when two helicopters collide and crash on the border of the states of California and Arizona. The Bell AH-1 SuperCobra attack helicopter and the UH-1Y Huey utility chopper accident occurs during a nighttime training exercise.[44]
Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. The killing receives widespread attention focusing on aspects including the possible role of Martin's race and the initial lack of prosecution against Zimmerman,[49] who is later charged with second degree murder.[50]
Egypt lifts a travel ban on seven Americans employed by pro-democracy U.S. groups, including the son of U.S. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood, who is among 16 Americans on trial in Egypt for trying to foment unrest and incite protests against the nation's military rulers.[56]
Retired British businessman Christopher Tappin is denied bail in Texas as he faces arms dealing charges.[62] He is accused by the U.S. Government of exporting thermal batteries to Iran that could be used in the manufacture of surface-to-air missiles.[63]
Law enforcement agencies in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland arrest alleged senior members of the computer hacking group Lulz Sec.[64]
Based in Chicago, Illinois, Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest encyclopedia still in print in the English language, announces that it will no longer be producing printed versions, but will continue online editions.[76]
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejects two patents held by Prometheus Laboratories, a unit of Nestlé S.A., continuing a trend in recent years toward a narrowing of the grounds of patentability.[82]
MIT researchers Ramesh Raskar and Andreas Velten demonstrate an augmented reality apparatus which can allow observation of a non-line of sight object by means of a non-mirror, reflective surface.[85]
March 23 – Disney Junior, Disney Channel's daytime children's programming block, becomes a standalone 24-hour cable channel. The channel replaces Soapnet, which remains available (in a limited, automated form) for some cable and satellite providers who have not yet finalized carriage deals for Disney Junior, as well for Cablevision and Verizon FiOS (both of them have kept Soapnet on the air and added Disney Junior to their lineups as an additional channel).[87]
March 24
Seven children and two adults are killed in a house fire in Charleston, West Virginia. It is considered the worst fire in six decades in the city.[88]
March 30–April 2 – Visa and Mastercard warn banks across the United States about a "massive" breach of security with more than 1.5 million North American credit card numbers potentially compromised. The security issue occurred at Atlanta-based Global Payments Inc. Subsequently, Visa announces that it is dropping Global Payments over the hacking data breach.[92]
A mass shooting at the private Korean Christian Oikos University in Oakland, California leaves seven people dead and three injured. It was perpetrated by 43-year-old One L. Goh, a former student at the school. He died on March 20, 2019, while in custody at California State Prison-Sacramento.[94]
The U.S. Supreme Court makes a controversial 5–4 decision that law enforcement officials can strip-search newly admitted jail inmates even if the holding charge is minor.[97]
April 5
In New York City, Russian businessman Victor Bout is sentenced to 25 years in prison for smuggling weapons to the Colombian FARC guerilla movement.
April 5–8 – American golfer Bubba Watson wins the US Masters defeating Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in a playoff.[99] Although Oosthuizen was runner-up, in the final round he hit a rare albatross on the second hole (occurring last in 1994, it was only the fourth ever albatross in Masters history and the first to be televised, as well as, the first ever on that hole).[100]
April 13 – In Miami-Dade County, a drunk driver illegally driving the South Dade TransitWay (then known as the Busway) southbound at more than 100 miles per hour t-bones a minivan traveling eastbound on Eureka Drive, approximately 17 miles southwest of Downtown Miami. One person is killed, three others (including the drunk driver) were injured, and the drunk driver arrested.[102] No bus drivers or passengers were injured or killed, as no buses were passing through (or stopping at an adjacent station) at the time of the crash.
April 20 – Marcus Robinson, due to have been executed in 2007, is ordered off death row after North Carolina Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks rules his trial was tainted by racial bias, grounds for cancellation of a death sentence under the state's Racial Justice Act. The judge uses controversial statistical evidence of bias to grant the change of sentence.[103]
April 29 – Seven people are killed, including three children, when the vehicle they were in flipped over on the Bronx River Parkway in The Bronx, New York City.[106]
May 2 – J. T. Ready, a border militia leader, apparently kills four people and himself at the home of his girlfriend in Phoenix, Arizona.[108]
May 4 – The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, is released by Marvel Studios as the sixth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the final film in its "Phase One" slate. The first in the franchise distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it becomes the third highest-grossing film of all time at that point (currently the eighth) and helps to boost the MCU and superhero films in general to a wider audience.
The CIA announces it had foiled a plot by Fahd al-Quso, a Yemeni affiliate of al-Qaida, to have a suicide bomber, using an improved version of the underwear bomb used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in 2009, to blow up an American-bound airliner; no lives were ever at risk.[110]
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar loses a Republican primary in Indiana to a Tea Party-backed challenger, becoming the first six-term Senator to lose a primary election since 1952.
William Balfour is found guilty of murdering the mother, brother and nephew of American entertainer Jennifer Hudson.[114]
A panel of American health experts recommends formal approval of the Truvada anti-HIV drug for prescription to non-infected men who have sex with multiple male partners, a decision opposed by some health workers and groups active among those with HIV.[115]
Dharun Ravi, the U.S. student who secretly filmed the sexual activities of his gay roommate Tyler Clementi, who later committed suicide when the film was exposed, is sentenced to 30 days in prison by a New Jersey judge. Ravi avoids the maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.[116]
May 31 – A jury clears former Democratic Party vice presidential candidate for John Edwards on one count of corruption, with the judge ordering a mistrial on the other five counts.[121]
June 7 – LinkedIn says that some of its members' passwords have been "compromised" following reports that more than six million passwords were leaked on the Internet.[123]
President Barack Obama invokes executive privilege on documents associated with Fast and Furious following a request by the House Oversight Committee.[137]
Arizona v. United States: In a 5–3 decision, the US Supreme Court strikes down most of the Arizona Immigration Law passed in 2010, but unanimously upholds the most controversial provision, which allows police officers to ask the immigration status of any person suspected of a crime.[143]
United States and United Kingdom regulators hit Barclays bank with a record fine (US$453 million) for distorting key interest rates to rig international markets.[146]
Dealing a blow to the FBI's high-profile global copyright theft case, a New Zealand court rules that search warrants used to raid the home of Kim Dotcom, founder of MegaUpload, in connection to alleged copyright infringement were invalid.[148]
July 9 – FBI has stopped assisting in DNS Changer Malware redirects; after this date Americans were told to visit the designated website to determine if their computers are infected.[152]
July 17 – After President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate was released by the White House on April 27, 2011,[157] Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio contends that the document is a computer-generated forgery. Additionally, his six-month-long review included an examination of President Obama's Selective Service card and contended that it, also, is a forgery. Their claims were presented at that press conference, and at a second press conference held on March 31, 2012.[158] The allegations regarding the birth certificate were repeated at a July 17, 2012, news conference, where Arpaio stated that his investigators are certain that Obama's long-form birth certificate is fraudulent.[159] In response to Arpaio's claims, Joshua A. Wisch, a special assistant to Hawaii's attorney general, said, "President Obama was born in Honolulu, and his birth certificate is valid. Regarding the latest allegations from a sheriff in Arizona, they are untrue, misinformed and misconstrue Hawaii law."[160]
July 22 – Thirteen are killed and another 10 are injured when a pickup truck crashes in Texas.[162]
July 23 – The NCAA announces severe penalties against Penn State's football program as a result of the school's child sex abuse scandal as a result of the scandal coach Joe Paterno has his wins from 1998 to 2011 vacated dropping him from 1st to 12th on the list of college football career coaching wins leaders. However his wins are restored three years later as part of a settlement.[163]
July 25 – Dawn (spacecraft) begins its departure from 4 Vesta. The spacecraft is using its ion propulsion system to gradually raise its orbit.[164]
July 27–August 12 – The United States compete at the Summer Olympics in London, England and win 46 gold, 29 silver, and 29 bronze medals.
August 8: Curiosity's first 360 degrees color panorama image.[166]August 25: Neil Armstrong dies – Armstrong prepares to take the first step on the Moon.
August 16 – After an outbreak of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus kills at least 17 people, the mayor of DallasMike Rawlings declares a state of emergency in the city. This paves the way for aerial spraying of synthetic pyrethroidinsecticides from tonight on. Many residents express their concerns over safety and effectiveness; they suggest other preventive methods of mosquito control. Officials said the measures could cost as much as $1.2 million.[174]Over the whole of the United States for the year, there were 243 deaths out of 5387 total cases.
September 11 – United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt and Consulate in Benghazi, Libya are attacked by protesters claiming because of film produced by the Coptic Christian diaspora in Washington, mocking the Muslim prophet. Although no link has been made to the planned terrorist attack in Benghazi, it was claimed by the insurgent group Ansar al-Sharia. The attackers are responsible for killing a consulate staff, J. Christopher Stevens, two former U.S. Navy SEALs and GRS Agents Glen "Bub" Doherty and Tyrone "Rone" Woods, and Information Officer Sean Smith in Benghazi.[185] Stevens was the first sitting U.S. ambassador to be killed in office since Adolph Dubs in Afghanistan in 1979.[186]
A mass shooting takes place at Accent Signage Systems, a sign company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; five people are killed, including the gunman who committed suicide, and four others are wounded.[195]
October 5 – The Los Angeles Police Department fails to obtain a search warrant when a federal judge in Texas blocks their attempt to obtain 1970s tapes of conversations between a Manson family member and his attorney. LA Police believe this evidence could help solve more than a dozen murders.[197]
An audio recording of Jerry Sandusky is released in which he "wonders what they've won". A court sentences Sandusky to 30–60 years in prison for sexual abuse of boys while a coach at Penn State. His lawyer vows to appeal and says he did not have enough time to prepare for the trial.[201]
October 12 – American attorney Ryan Poston is shot to death by his girlfriend Shayna Hubers in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Hubers falsely claimed the shooting was in self-defense and was later convicted of Poston's murder, with the perpetrator compared to Jodi Arias, convicted of the murder of Travis Alexander.[205]
American weekly news magazine Newsweek announces it will cease print publication on December 31 and will move to an online-only format.[209]
The Boy Scouts of America release documents containing over 15,000 pages relating to allegations of sexual abuse by over 1200 scout leaders between 1965 and 1985.[210]
October 19 – At the Dallas State Fair, Big Tex burns down because of a fire in his right boot.
October 25 – A New York Police Department officer, Gilberto Valle III, along with an unnamed co-conspirator, is charged with allegedly conspiring to cross state lines and kidnap, torture, cook, and eat women (at least 100 names and pictures, some with physical descriptions, were found on his computer).[212]
Hurricane Sandy's storm surge slams into the Eastern seaboard and causes destruction especially in the states of New Jersey and New York. In addition to record flooding damage along the Jersey Shore in Atlantic City and Seaside Heights, the superstorm causes almost 50 deaths in the states and leaves more than 8 million customers (all of Lower Manhattan, 65% of New Jersey, and many more) without electricity. In New York City alone, 18 deaths are reported, subways and tunnels are flooded for days, 80 homes are destroyed by an electrical fire in Breezy Point, Queens, and waters reach record highs in Battery Park. With the storm being late in the hurricane season, there are also blizzards in West Virginia.[215] The New York Stock Exchange closes for trading for two days, the first weather closure of the exchange since 1985.[216] It is also the first two-day weather closure since the Great Blizzard of 1888.[217]
Penguin and Random House agree to merge to form Penguin Random House, the world's largest publisher.[218]
Separately, the two highest-ranking BP supervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon on the day of the explosion have been indicted on 23 criminal counts.[228]
November 16 – Hostess Brands, which includes such brands as cakes Twinkies, announces it will file for bankruptcy and liquidate its assets, stating that a bakery union's worker strike stemming from contract disputes "crippled" its operations. 18,500 workers are expected to be laid off.[229]
November 20 – Puerto Rican professional boxerHéctor Camacho is shot multiple times in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The driver of Camacho's car is killed in the attack. Shot in the neck and face, Camacho is taken to St. Paul's Hospital in Río Piedras, where he is pronounced "brain dead".[230]
November 30 – A New Hampshire federal grand jury indicts David Kwiatkowski, 33, a former employee of Exeter Hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, on fraud and product-tampering charges in connection with an outbreak of hepatitis C that sickened more than 30 people and caused concern in 7 states.[231]
December 5 – American businessman John McAfee is arrested in Guatemala following an alleged illegal entry after leaving Belize where he is wanted for questioning over the death of fellow American Gregory Faull.[232]
December 9 – The wreckage of a plane carrying American singer Jenni Rivera with two pilots and four other passengers is found in northern Mexico with no apparent survivors.[236]
The trial of Jodi Arias begins in Arizona. She is accused of the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander and the case receives widespread media attention.[238]
British-based bank HSBC will pay U.S. authorities $1.9 billion in a settlement over money laundering for drug cartels and countries under sanctions, the largest ever such penalty.[241]
Michigan's state government passes right-to-work legislation, making Michigan the 23rd state and the most highly unionized state in the US to have such laws.[242]
December 14 – Twenty-six people, including 20 children (ages 6 and 7), are killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.[243] Prior to the school shooting, Adam Lanza, age 20, shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, age 52, at the home they shared in Newtown, as the 27th victim. The suspect killed himself during the incident. It is the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.
December 27 – Toyota Motor Corporation, moving to put years of legal problems behind it, has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle dozens of lawsuits relating to sudden acceleration.[248]
December 30 – A tour bus crashes off Interstate 84 in northeastern Oregon, leaving 9 of its passengers dead and 26 injured.[249]
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