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← 2014 2013 2012 2015 in the United States → 2016 2017 2018
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s
See also:	History of the United States (2008–present) Timeline of United States history (2010–present) List of years in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
• Vice President: Joe Biden (D-Delaware)
• Chief Justice: John Roberts (Maryland)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives:

John Boehner (R-Ohio) (until October 29)

Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) (starting October 29)

• Senate Majority Leader:

Harry Reid (D-Nevada) (until January 3)

Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) (starting January 3)

• Congress: 113th (until January 3), 114th (starting January 3)

Events

January

• January 1
  • New laws that go into effect on January 1:
    • Under Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services begins using the Medicare fee schedule to give larger payments to physicians who provide high-quality care compared with cost.
    • California's affirmative consent law goes into effect.
    • California bans revenge porn.
    • Louisiana's law allowing 16- and 17-year-old people to register to vote.
    • New York bans photography with big cats.
    • Nevada schools can now deny driver's licenses to students who skip classes.
    • Illinois requires e-cigarettes to be sold behind-the-counter.
    • Several states raise their minimum wages; Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
  • Restaurant chain Chick-fil-A reveals that credit card information from up to 9,000 transactions in five states may have been stolen.
• January 3 – The 114th Congress begins, and, as per the 2014 elections, the Republican Party holds majority control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
• January 5 – Groundbreaking and construction begin on the $68 billion California High-Speed Rail System, with the new transportation line planning to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2029, reaching speeds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h).
• January 6
  • Federal judge James R. Spencer sentences former Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell to two years in prison on federal corruption charges.
  • A gunman fatally shoots a doctor at a VA hospital in El Paso, Texas, before committing suicide.
• January 12
  • The Ohio State Buckeyes defeat the Oregon Ducks to win the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, by a score of 42–20.
  • A federal judge rules that South Dakota's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, and immediately stays the ruling.
  • Bruce Rauner is sworn in as the 42nd governor of Illinois, replacing Pat Quinn.
• January 14
  • The FBI arrests an Ohioan man for threatening to stage an ISIS-inspired attack on the United States Capitol.
  • A collision between a train and a prison transport bus near Penwell, Texas leaves at least eight prisoners and two corrections officers dead.
• January 15 – The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards are announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. The nominees for Best Picture are American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash.
• January 16 – The Supreme Court announces it will hear four appellate rulings whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Oral arguments will take place in April and a ruling may occur by June.
• January 18 – K.C. Undercover and Star vs. the Forces of Evil debuts on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
• January 20 – President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union Address to the United States Congress.
• January 23
  • The U.S. Southern District of Alabama strikes down the state ban on same-sex marriage in Alabama, saying it has violated equal protection and due process rights.
  • The Supreme Court announces it will review the lethal injection protocol used by Oklahoma, which inmates suggest violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
• January 26–27 – A blizzard hits the Northeast, shutting down major cities including New York City and Boston, with up to 60 million people affected.

February

• February 1 – Amid controversies and accusations of cheating, the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks 28–24 in Super Bowl XLIX at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
• February 3
  • A collision between a commuter train and a passenger vehicle kills six in Valhalla, New York.
  • The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to stay a judge's ruling overturning the banning of same-sex marriage in Alabama, but Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore states the next day that the state is not required to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
• February 5 – American electronics retail store franchise RadioShack files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after 11 consecutive quarterly losses.
• February 10
  • U.S. officials announce that in light of the Houthi takeover of the Yemeni capital city of Sana'a and the resignation of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the United States will be closing its embassy in Yemen. All American diplomats working in Yemen are advised to evacuate.
  • NBC announces that NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams has been suspended for six months due to revelations that he greatly embellished stories of his role in a helicopter incident in Iraq on the air.
• February 11
  • Police arrest suspected shooter Craig Stephen Hicks for killing a Muslim family of three in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Police state that the shooting was motivated by a long-standing neighbor dispute over parking.
  • The New England Journal of Medicine publishes research from the American Cancer Society that mortality due to cigarette smoking in the United States may be substantially greater than previously thought when adding in associations with diseases that have not been formally established as caused by smoking.
• February 13 – Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announces his resignation (effective February 18) amid allegations his fiancée used taxpayer resources to aid her green-energy consulting business. Kate Brown moves up to Governor from being the Secretary of State.
• February 14 – The New York Police Department reports no murders in New York City over a 12-day period for the first time in the city's history, citing the recent storms and extreme weather events as the possible reason.
• February 16
  • A Moscow-based security software company, the Kaspersky Lab, discovers the NSA's ability to hide spying software in hard drives made by several top manufacturers in the computers of users from 30 different countries.
  • A federal district court judge in Brownsville, Texas, temporarily halts President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration, allowing Texas and 25 other states to file a lawsuit opposing the orders.
• February 17 – Ashton Carter is sworn in as the 25th Secretary of Defense, replacing Chuck Hagel.
• February 19 - The long running 12-year sitcom Two and a Half Men comes to an end with the Finale.
• February 20 – Charles Bothuell IV and Monique Dillard-Bothuell are charged with torture and child abuse of Charles Bothuell V.
• February 22
  • In stock car racing, Joey Logano wins the Daytona 500 (extended to 203 laps due to a green-white-checkered finish), making him the second youngest winner of the race after Trevor Bayne, and giving Team Penske their second Daytona 500 victory. Jeff Gordon (in his final season as a full-time driver) leads the most laps with a total of 87 out of 200 and also wins his second pole for the race, and his first since 1999.
  • The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences hold the 87th Academy Awards in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. The telecast garners nearly 37.3 million viewers.
    • Birdman wins four awards out of nine nominations, including the awards for Best Picture and its director Alejandro González Iñárritu for Best Director. Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel also wins four awards.
    • Eddie Redmayne wins the award for Best Actor for his performance in The Theory of Everything.
    • Julianne Moore wins the award for Best Actress for her performance in Still Alice.
• February 24 – Alaska's law legalizing the private use, but not sale of, recreational marijuana goes into effect.
• February 26
  • The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules in favor of net neutrality by applying Title II (common carrier) of the Communications Act of 1934 and Section 706 of the Telecommunications act of 1996 to the Internet.
  • The voter-elected legalization of possession and private use of recreational marijuana is put into effect in Washington, D.C.
  • A gunman kills seven people then himself in a spree shooting in Tyrone, Missouri.

March

• March 2 – Federal judge Joseph Bataillon strikes down Nebraska's ban on same-sex marriage, pending an appeal by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
• March 3
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech in front of Congress attempting to deter the Obama administration from the current negotiated deal for a nuclear program for Iran.
  • Former CIA director and U.S. Army officer David Petraeus pleads guilty in federal court to a charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information.
  • The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that neither the benefits nor the safety of testosterone have been established for low testosterone levels due to aging and has required that testosterone pharmaceutical labels include warning information about the possibility of an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke.
• March 6 – The Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet.
• March 9
  • President Barack Obama signs an executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat to the U.S.
  • A letter signed by 47 Republican senators to the leadership of Iran in regards to Iran's nuclear program, warns Iran that according to the US Constitution any foreign treaty made by a president of the United States without congressional approval can be overturned by a future elected president.
• March 11 – In Missouri, a gunman identified as Jeffery L. Williams shoots two policemen in front of the Ferguson city police headquarters.
• March 12 – The Federal Communications Commission releases the specific details of the net neutrality rules.
• March 19 – Scientists, including an inventor of CRISPR, urge a worldwide moratorium on using gene editing methods to genetically engineer the human genome in a way that can be inherited, writing "scientists should avoid even attempting, in lax jurisdictions, germline genome modification for clinical application in humans" until the full implications "are discussed among scientific and governmental organizations.".
• March 23
  • The U.S. Supreme Court affirms Wisconsin's law requiring voters to present photo identification to cast a ballot.
  • Texas Senator Ted Cruz announces his run for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.
  • The first ever all-girls youth tackle football league in the United States, the Utah GFL, is started.
• March 25
  • The US Army charges US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan from June 2009 until his release in May 2014, with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
  • Indiana Governor Mike Pence signs Indiana SB 101 into law, prompting a national debate over religious freedom and LGBT rights. After a week of public outcry, the law is modified and similar bills in Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, and North Dakota fail to pass their state legislatures.