Interactive Timeline – 2001-Present

correct incorrect Jun Congress reduces income and estate tax rates

correct incorrect Jul Congress passes No Child Left Behind Act

correct incorrect Sep 11 Al Qaeda terrorists attack World Trade Center and Pentagon

correct incorrect Sep Congress passes USA PATRIOT Act; Bush declares "global war on terror"

correct incorrect Oct United States attacks Afghanistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden

correct incorrect Nov Enron declares bankruptcy

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Dec U.S. and Afghan allies topple Taliban government

correct incorrect Jun Joseph Stiglitz publishes Globalization and Its Discontents

correct incorrect Jun President George W. Bush announces policy of preemptive war

correct incorrect Oct Congress authorizes military force against Iraq

correct incorrect Mar United States attacks Iraq

correct incorrect Jun Supreme Court overturns state antisodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas

correct incorrect Jul 9/11 Commission publishes its report

correct incorrect Dec Congress passes Medicare Modernization Act

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Feb–Mar UN weapons inspectors in Iraq find no evidence of WMD despite claims of Bush administration

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Mar Most U.S. allies refuse to join war against Iraq

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Apr Saddam Hussein's government falls

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Jun Iraqi insurgency begins against American forces

correct incorrect Feb Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that gays and lesbians have the right to marry

correct incorrect May United States abuse of prisoners in Iraq revealed

correct incorrect Nov President Bush wins reelection over John F. Kerry

correct incorrect Jan–Apr Terri Schiavo case dominates news

correct incorrect Apr Thomas Friedman publishes The World Is Flat

correct incorrect Aug Hurricane Katrina floods New Orleans

correct incorrect Sep John Roberts named chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

correct incorrect Jun Supreme Court rules in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have right to hearings in federal courts

correct incorrect Nov Democrats win majorities in the House and Senate in congressional elections

correct incorrect Dec Iraq Study Group issues report critical of Bush administration policy

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Nov–Dec Escalating insurgency in Iraq

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Dec Saddam Hussein executed

correct incorrect Jun Congress fails to adopt immigration reform

correct incorrect Oct Dow Jones and Standard and Poor's stock averages hit peak

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Jan U.S. begins troop surge in Iraq

correct incorrect Mar Investment firm Bear Stearns nearly collapses

correct incorrect Jul Federal government takes over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

correct incorrect Sep Investment firm Lehman Brothers declares bankruptcy

correct incorrect Oct U.S. Treasury creates Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP)

correct incorrect Nov Democrat Barack Obama elected president over Republican John McCain

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Mar-Dec U.S. economic turmoil spreads to world markets

correct incorrect Jan Barack Obama inaugurated president

correct incorrect Feb Congress enacts the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to stimulate the economy

correct incorrect Feb President Obama announces U.S. combat troops will depart Iraq by end of 2010

correct incorrect Jun President Obama addresses Muslim world in speech in Cairo

correct incorrect Aug Sonia Sotomayor joins Supreme Court

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Feb Crowds in Dublin, Ireland, demand resignation of the government for its mishandling of banking crisis

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Oct President Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

correct incorrect Jan Supreme Court in its Citizens United ruling overturns most limits on corporate political contributions

correct incorrect Mar Congress overrides Republican opposition and enacts Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system

correct incorrect July Most U.S. combat troops leave Iraq, but over 40,000 American soldiers remain

correct incorrect Aug Elena Kagan joins Supreme Court

correct incorrect Nov Republicans regain control of House of Representatives; rise of "Tea Party" activism

correct incorrect Dec President Obama announces United States will add 30,000 troops to its force in Afghanistan

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Dec Arab Spring begins with uprising in Tunisia, followed by revolts in Egypt, Libya, and Syria

correct incorrect May U.S. Navy Seals kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan

correct incorrect Jun–Aug President Obama and congressional Republicans spar over raising debt ceiling and averting default

correct incorrect Sep Occupy Wall Street movement

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Feb Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak forced from office

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Oct Libyan dictator Gaddafi deposed and killed

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Dec Last U.S. combat troops leave Iraq

correct incorrect Nov Obama reelected, defeating Mitt Romney

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Jan–Feb Civil war erupts in Syria (continues into 2017)

correct incorrect Jun Supreme Court strikes down federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

correct incorrect Jun Supreme Court overturns key provisions of 1965 Voting Rights Act

correct incorrect Jun Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveals vast program of domestic and foreign surveillance

correct incorrect Oct Republicans in House of Representatives shut down federal government for two weeks

correct incorrect Oct–Dec Rollout of Affordable Care Act Web site

correct incorrect Nov Republicans expand majorities in Congress

correct incorrect Steady but slow economic growth in United States

correct incorrect Jun Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage

correct incorrect THE WORLD: Global refugee crisis worsens as fighting in Middle East continues (continues into 2017)

correct incorrect Jun Supreme Court re-affirms abortion rights