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| 1999, Feb. 12 |
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| The U.S. Senate voted to acquit Pres. Clinton of impeachment charges. | 1 |
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| March 24–June 10 |
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| United States forces played a key role in NATO bombing missions against the Serb government in Yugoslavia. | 2 |
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| March 29 |
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| The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time in U.S. history. By Dec. 31 the Dow had reached a closing level of 11,497.12. | 3 |
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| April 12 |
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| Pres. Clinton was held in contempt of court for giving “intentionally false” information about his relationship with Lewinsky during the Paula Jones sexual harassment trial, which had been settled out of court in Nov. 1998. | 4 |
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| June 23 |
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| In three important cases, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the notion of states' rights, protecting states from facing lawsuits forfailing to comply with federal laws. The three cases involved the Americans with Disabilities Act: the Court ruled that the law did not include individuals whose disabilities had been corrected by mechanical devices. | 5 |
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| Aug. 11 |
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| The Kansas Board of Education removed Darwin's Theory of Evolution from the state's science curriculum. | 6 |
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| Aug. 17–19 |
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| The United States and Russia began discussion of a third Strategic Arms Reduction Talks treaty, START III. | 7 |
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| Oct. 7 |
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| In a defeat for the Republican majority, the House passed a bipartisan bill supporting patients' rights with regard to medical and insurance benefits and laws. | 8 |
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| Oct. 13 |
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| The U.S. Senate rejected ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would bar nuclear weapons testing in any form. | 9 |
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| Oct. 18 |
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| Investigator Kenneth Starr, whose inquiries since 1994 had largely led to Pres. Clinton's impeachment, stepped down from his duties as independent counsel. Mr. Starr, whose independent counsel statute was set to expire on June 30, 2000, had been accused of overzealousness and blatant partisanship in his legal pursuit of Pres. Clinton. | 10 |
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| Nov. 5 |
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| In the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit, a judge concluded that Microsoft held a monopoly power that it had used to the detriment of its competitors. | 11 |
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| Dec. 20 |
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| The Supreme Court in Vermont ordered state legislators to grant to homosexual couples benefits that were held by heterosexual married couples. Many saw this as a first step toward fully recognized same-sex marriages in the U.S. | 12 |
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