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February 24, 2026

6 entries on this date.

EPA repealed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants, again declining to monetize health benefits

On February 24, 2026, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized a repeal of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) amendments for coal- and oil-fired power plants, citing a 2020 finding that residual cancer risk was already below a presumptive acceptable threshold and eliminating continuous emissions monitoring requirements. As it had five weeks earlier in a separate rule for stationary combustion turbines, EPA did not monetize the health benefits of the toxic-pollutant reductions the standards had achieved, presenting only projected industry cost savings of $670 million through 2037. A coalition of 21 environmental and public-health organizations sued in the D.C. Circuit the following month.

Rep. Omar's silent State of the Union guest forcibly removed, injured, and charged

During President Trump's State of the Union address on February 24, 2026, Aliya Rahman — a Minneapolis software engineer attending as Rep. Ilhan Omar's invited guest — stood silently in the House gallery and was forcibly removed by U.S. Capitol Police after declining to sit. Rahman, who had disclosed injured shoulders and is autistic with a traumatic brain injury, was aggressively handled, required treatment at George Washington University Hospital, and was booked and charged with "Unlawful Conduct," a misdemeanor carrying up to six months. Rep. Omar condemned the response as a heavy-handed, chilling reaction to peaceful expression and demanded a full explanation.

DOJ withheld and removed Epstein-file records tied to a Trump sexual-abuse allegation

An NPR investigation published February 24, 2026 found that the Justice Department's public Epstein-files database was missing dozens of pages of FBI records connected to a woman's allegation that Donald Trump sexually abused her as a minor in the early 1980s. NPR reported that roughly 53 pages of interview notes were withheld or removed — some briefly taken offline and not fully restored — while other Epstein materials remained public. The DOJ said unpublished records were privileged, duplicative, or under review, and House Democrats and the Republican committee chair each announced investigations into the omissions.

ICE agents stopped and arrested A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building in Brooklyn, New York

On February 24, 2026, ICE agents in Brooklyn, New York, stopped a woman identified in court filings as A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building, arresting and detaining her without a judicial warrant for seven days. Her arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

DOJ sues UCLA over antisemitism, escalating a pressure campaign nine of its own career attorneys resigned over

On February 24, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued the University of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging UCLA maintained an antisemitic "hostile work environment" for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff. The suit was the latest step in a federal pressure campaign rooted in UCLA's tolerance of a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment: the administration had already suspended $584 million in UC research grants and sought a $1.2 billion fine, which a federal judge blocked in November 2025 as unconstitutional. Nine career Justice Department attorneys assigned to the underlying antisemitism investigation had resigned, describing pressure to reach a preordained conclusion on a 30-day timetable. It was the first of two 2026 DOJ antisemitism suits against the university.