Today is Tuesday, February 24, the 55th day of 2026. There are only 310 days left in the year.
This day in history:
On February 24, 1988, in a decision that expanded legal protections for parody and satire, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned a $200,000 award won by the Rev. Jerry Falwell against Hustler magazine and its publisher, Larry Flynt.
Also on this date:
In 1803, in the landmark decision Marbury v. Madison, the US Supreme Court established the basic principles of judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes and statutes.
In 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson by a vote of 126-47 after his attempt to remove Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate by one vote.
In 1942, the SS Struma, a chartered ship attempting to take nearly 800 Jewish refugees from Romania to British-mandated Palestine, was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea; all but one refugee died.
In 1981, a jury in White Plains, New York, found Jean Harris guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of “Scarsdale Diet” author Dr. Herman Tarnower. (Sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, Harris was granted clemency by New York Governor Mario Cuomo in December 1992.)
In 1991, the United States began land operations in the Gulf War by entering Iraqi-held Kuwait.
In 2008, Cuba’s parliament appointed Raul Castro as president, ending nearly 50 years of rule by his brother, Fidel, who had announced days earlier that he would not seek re-election. Raul Castro served as president until April 2018.
In 2011, Discovery, the world’s most traveled space shuttle, blasted into orbit for the final time, bound for the International Space Station on a journey that marked the beginning of the end of the space shuttle era.
In 2020, Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York and taken to prison in handcuffs in a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement. An appeals court later overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial, but Weinstein remains behind bars after another conviction.
In 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launching airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from various directions.
Today’s birthday:
- Actor Dominic Chianese is 95 years old.
- Nike co-founder Phil Knight is 88 years old.
- Actor Barry Bostwick is 81 years old.
- Actor Edward James Olmos is 79 years old.
- Musician George Thorogood is 76 years old.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray is 70 years old.
- Actor Billy Zane is 60 years old.
- Boxing Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather Jr. 49 years old.
- Tennis Hall of Famer Lleyton Hewitt was 45 years old.
- Actor Daniel Kaluuya is 37 years old.
- Singer-songwriter Domenic Innarella is 15 years old.
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