Other Notable Events, February 24

In 1803, the U.S. Supreme Court established the principle of judicial review with its Marbury vs. Madison decision written by Chief Justice John Marshall.

In 1868, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln, became the first U.S. president to be impeached. He was acquitted in the Senate trial by a single vote.

Also in 1868, the first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans to include floats marched.

In 1920, a group of Germans organized the National Socialist party, forerunner of the Nazi party later led by Adolf Hitler.

In 1922, Henri Landru, better known as Bluebeard, was executed in France for killing 10 of his girlfriends.

In 1945, U.S. troops liberated the Philippine city of Manila from the Japanese.

In 1946, Juan Peron was elected president of Argentina.

In 1970, National Public Radio was founded.

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court defended the right to satirize public figures when it voted 8-0 to overturn a $200,000 settlement awarded the Rev. Jerry Falwell over the parody of him in Hustler magazine.

In 1989, nine people were killed when a 10-by-40-foot section of a United Airlines 747 ripped away from the jetliner's outer skin while en route from Hawaii to New Zealand.

In 1991, U.S.-led forces began a lightning, multipronged ground assault against Iraq.

In 1992, General Motors announced a record $4.5 billion loss in 1991 and said it would close 21 plants and idle 74,000 workers over four years.

Also in 1992, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled two designs for a commemorative stamp honoring Elvis Presley -- one showing him as a young rock-and-roll singer, the other at the height of his success in Las Vegas.

In 1993, rock veteran Eric Clapton took home seven Grammy Awards for his emotion-packed Tears In Heaven and bluesy Layla.

In 1995, diver Greg Louganis, who won four gold medals in the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988, revealed he had AIDS.

In 1996, Cuba shot down two unarmed planes flown by pilots belonging to a Cuban exile group who were looking for boat people to rescue.

In 2002, the Winter Olympics concluded at Salt Lake City with the United States winning 34 medals, 10 of them gold, its most medals in Winter Games history and one fewer than medals champ Germany.

In 2003, at least 260 people were killed in an earthquake in northwest China as the tremor flattened thousands of houses and other buildings. The quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.

Also in 2003, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the U.N. Security Council declaring that Iraq's Saddam Hussein has missed a final opportunity to disarm peacefully.

In 2004, an earthquake struck Morocco, killing about 600 people and injuring hundreds more.

In 2007, a bombing near a Sunni mosque outside Baghdad killed at least 35 people, signaling an end to a downturn in sectarian violence.

In 2008, at least 52 Shiite pilgrims headed to the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala to celebrate Arbaeen were killed in an attack at a rest stop. Four others were killed the next day by suicide bombers.

In 2009, in his first address as chief executive to a joint session of Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke of the necessity of immediate action to resurrect the flailing economy and of plans for investing in energy, healthcare and education.

Also in 2009, Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's militarily strategic Swat Valley agreed to a cease-fire leaving them in charge of the area near the Afghan border and about 100 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

In 2010, in what was described as the largest yearly decline since the 1940s, a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. report said lending by U.S. banks fell in 2009 to $587 billion, down 7.5 percent from the previous year.

In 2011, fighting erupted in western Ivory Coast near the Liberian border as Laurent Gbagbo sought to remain president after losing an election to Alassane Ouattara.

Also in 2011, more than 50 Somali refugees seeking to escape violence at home apparently drowned when their small boat bound for Yemen capsized in the Gulf of Aden.

In 2012, bombers and gunmen in Iraq killed 55 people and wounded more than 200 in a series of attacks on civilian and government targets in more than a dozen cities.

Also in 2012, the British House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, making it, observers say, a certainty to pass in the House of Lords just as easily and become the law in England and Wales.