May 2010 Current Events: U.S. News

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

World News | Business News | Disasters & Science News

Here are the key events in United States news for the month of May 2010.

• Super Saver Wins Kentucky Derby (May 1): Super Saver, ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, wins the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Borel has ridden three of the past four Derby winners.
• Police Find Car Bomb in Times Square, Evacuate Area (May 2): After discovering a bomb in a smoking vehicle parked in Times Square, in New York City, police evacuated several blocks around the popular tourist spot. The bomb was made of propane, gasoline, and fireworks and did not explode. A T-shirt vendor in the area saw the smoking car and alerted the authorities. (May 3): Federal agents and New York City police arrest a man in conjunction with the Times Square car bomb. The man, Faisal Shahzad, is Pakistani but recently became a naturalized U.S. citizen and has been living in Connecticut with his family. Authorities are investigating whether Shahzad was working with a terrorist group or alone. (May 4): Terrorism suspect Faisal Shazhad is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and several other federal charges related to explosives. Shahzad admited to the crime and claims to have worked alone. (May 5): American officials announce that the Pakistani Taliban likely played a role in the Time Square bomb plot, including training the suspect in the case, Shahzad. (May 13): The F.B.I. takes three Pakistani men into custody for their alleged role in the Times Square bomb plot. The men are under suspicion for providing money to Faisal Shazhad so he could carry out the plot.
• Obama Nominates Elena Kagan for Supreme Court Justice (May 10): President Obama selects Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his nominee for the Supreme Court Justice position that will be vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens this summer. Kagen is a scholar and a lawyer, and was the first female dean of Harvard Law School, has served on all three branches of the Federal Government, and has been the Solicitor General in the Obama administration. She has no prior judicial experience however, a qualification that hasn't been lacking in a justice for forty years.
• Supreme Court Bans Life Sentences for Juveniles in Non-Murder Cases (May 17): The U.S. Supreme Court votes 5–4 against life sentences for juveniles who commit crimes other than murder. To give an offender under the age of 18 a sentence of life without parole is unconstitutional, they say, breaking the Eighth Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."
• Violent Crime Down Across U.S. (May 24): Violent crime falls across the United States in 2008. Compared to 2008, the rate of murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and other violent crimes were down 5.5% in 2009, according to a report released by the F.B.I. Property crimes decreased as well, down by 4.9%.
• Obama Sending Up to 1,200 National Guard Troops to Border (May 25): President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and increase law enforcement spending to reduce rampant drug smuggling in the area. Obama was being pressured by both his own Democratic and the opposing Republican parties to increase police presence at the border.