COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: The number of daily infections in the U.S. exceeds one million for the first time, with a total of 1.08 million reported cases, driven largely by the Omicron variant.[6]
Cyber Ninjas, the company who conducted an audit of Maricopa County's election, announces that they will shut down after being held in contempt of court.[11]
January 7 – The three defendants convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery are sentenced to life in prison. Travis McMichael and his father Greg are sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, while William Bryan is sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years.[12]
January 9 – Seventeen people are killed and at least 44 others are injured in a fire at an apartment complex in The Bronx, New York City, New York.[13]
January 12 – In New York, a judge rules that one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre, can proceed with a civil case against Prince Andrew, rejecting his attempt to have the sexual assault claims dismissed.[20][21]
January 13 – COVID-19 vaccination in the United States: The Supreme Court blocks the Biden administration from enforcing its vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies. However, it allows a vaccine mandate to stand for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments.[22]
January 15
Glenn Youngkin is sworn in as governor of Virginia. After being inaugurated, Youngkin signed multiple executive orders, including barring the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.[23] Governor Youngkin also signed executive orders that would create a commission to help fight against antisemitism in the commonwealth and another that would combat human trafficking.[24]
February 3 – The share price of Meta falls by 26.4%, with Facebook losing $230bn in its market value, the biggest one-day loss in history for a US company. This follows an earnings report showing the company's first ever drop in daily user numbers.[33]
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: A study by the CDC finds that surgical masks worn at indoor public venues can reduce the chances of testing positive for COVID-19 by 66%, while tightfitting N95 masks can reduce the odds of infection by 83%.[35][36]
During a speech before the Federalist Society in Orlando, Florida, former Vice President Mike Pence tells the audience: [Former] President "Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."[37]
February 7 – Freedom Convoy 2022: Protesters at the Ambassador Bridge, connecting Ontario with Detroit, Michigan, and one of the busiest international border crossings in North America, blockade the border crossing in response to vaccine mandates for truckers re-entering Canada. Four days later, on February 11, the Ontario Superior Court grants an injunction to remove protesters from the bridge.[38]
February 15 – NASA publishes its latest Sea Level Rise Technical Report, an update of the 2017 edition, which includes projections for sea level rise through to the year 2150. The agency warns that sea levels in the U.S. may rise as much over the next 30 years as during the previous 100.[43][44]
President Biden announces new, stronger sanctions that will "impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time." He condemns President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, calling him an "aggressor."[56]
The three former officers involved in the murder of George Floyd (J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao) are found guilty by a federal jury for civil rights violations.[57]
President Biden signs an order to provide $600 million of military assistance to Ukraine.[60]
The US and its allies commit to removing Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system, as well as imposing measures on the Russian Central Bank and further restrictions on Russian elites.[61][62]
In new court documents, the Texas State Bar files a lawsuit accusing Sidney Powell of misconduct and calls for disciplinary actions against her including disbarment.[70]
March 9 – A 25-year-old woman in North Texas files a lawsuit against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, accusing him of being her biological father and paying her mother to keep the information secret.[71]
March 10 – The 2022 MLB Lockout comes to an end after 99 days after a new CBA is agreed to, with the season delaying its start to April 7 but still playing all 162 games.
March 11 – A grand jury determines Houston TexansquarterbackDeshaun Watson will not be indicted or face criminal charges for sexual misconduct after 22 women accuse him of various crimes.[72]
Russia announces sanctions on several U.S. officials, banning President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and others from entering the country.[74]
March 18 – A transit bus shooting in Fort Lauderdale kills two people and injures two others.[75]
March 26 – U.S. Rep.Jeff Fortenberry resigns from Congress after a California jury convicts him of lying to authorities about an illegal campaign donation from a foreign national. His resignation will be effective on March 31.[84]
Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters announces that two firefighters are injured, and five firetrucks were damaged during the wildfire that broke out near the Wears Valley community.[93]
Evacuation orders are lifted in Gatlinburg after no structures were damaged during the wildfire. Firefighters also say that the wildfires in the area are under control.[94]
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signs a law criminalizing abortion in the state, with the exception of cases when the mother's health is in danger. According to the law, anyone performing an abortion could face a fine of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison, although the woman undergoing the abortion would not be penalized.[112][113]
April 20 – Netflix loses more than one-third of its share value, following news that the streaming giant has lost 200,000 subscribers and is expecting to lose a further two million in the next quarter.[127]
April 21 – Carl Wayne Buntion is executed for the 1990 murder of police officer James Irby, becoming the oldest inmate put to death in Texas, at the age of 78.[128]
Andrew Fahie, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, is arrested along with two others in a drug sting by the DEA in Miami. He is charged with conspiracy to import more than 5kg (11lb) of cocaine into the US and conspiring to commit money laundering.[134]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases data showing that in the first quarter of 2022 GDP declined at an annual rate of 1.4%, marking the first time GDP shrank since the second quarter of 2020.[135][136][137]
Chief JusticeJohn Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States responds to the bombshell report from the previous day by both confirming that the first draft of the opinion is authentic and ordering the Marshal of the United States Supreme Court to commence an investigation into the source of the leak.[146]
May 4 – The Federal Reserve raises its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point from a range between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent to a range between 0.75 percent to 1 percent, the biggest increase since May 2000.[147]
May 7 – Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) calls the police due to a message written on the sidewalk right outside of her house in chalk which merely urges her to "clean up her mess" by supporting the Women's Health Protection Act in Congress. She claims that it was a personally threatening defacement of public property.[148][149]
May 9 – Casey White is caught in Evansville, Indiana alongside former corrections officer Vicky White during their prison break. Vicky later takes her own life and Casey is sent back to Alabama where he was being held.
An earthquake with a measurement of 4.2 magnitude on the Richter scale happens in the morning near Yellowstone.[152]
Elon Musk states that he will reinstate Donald Trump's previously banned account on Twitter if his deal to acquire personal ownership of the company is completed. The only basis that he gives is that the termination of the former president's Twitter profile was "morally wrong" in the first place.[153]
More chalk writing appears on the sidewalk in front of the house of Senator Susan Collins.[154]
A shooting occurs at several Asian owned businesses in Dallas, Texas. The suspect is arrested several days later and it is determined that the attack was caused by delusions the suspect had about Asians.
A federal judge blocks the implementation of a law in the state of Alabama that criminalizes prescribing gender-affriming puberty blockers and hormones to transgender minors.[158]
A shooting occurs in the vicinity of the Deer District in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during Game 6 of the Bucks-Celtics playoff series, injuring seventeen.
Across the country, thousands of people organize to protest the leaked draft from the Supreme Court of the United States in defense of abortion rights.[159]
In the case of Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, the Supreme Court of the United States holds that the provision of the McCain-Feingold law which limits the amount of money that can be donated to a campaign after an election for the purposes of repaying a political candidate who self-funded such campaign is unconstitutional.[163]
The United States holds a meeting on UFOs, the first in over fifty years.
May 18 – 2022 monkeypox outbreak: An adult male in Massachusetts becomes the first person in the U.S. to be infected during a new outbreak of monkeypox, as growing case numbers are reported in several other countries.[165]
June 13 – The three other officers involved in the murder of George Floyd (J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao) are scheduled to begin their trial.[173]
^"Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved October 14, 2018. The federal remedies for unauthorized use of pre-1972 sound recordings shall be available for 95 years after first publication of the recording, ending on December 31 of that year, subject to certain additional periods. These periods provide varying additional protection for pre-1972 sound recordings, based on when the sound recording was first published: For recordings first published before 1923, the additional time period ends on December 31, 2021.
Media related to 2022 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons