Topic - Patrick Leahy

• Smithsonian honors Eastwood, opens theater on mall

  Clint Eastwood helped open a new movie theater on the National Mall Wednesday evening and the Smithsonian Institution honored the actor and director for his six decades of work in American film.

• Warrant needed for GPS tracking, high court says

  In a rare defeat for law enforcement, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed on Monday to bar police from installing GPS technology to track suspects without first getting a judge's approval. The justices made clear it wouldn't be their final word on increasingly advanced high-tech surveillance of Americans.

• High court: warrant needed for GPS tracking

  The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.

• After protest, Congress puts off movie piracy bill

  Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music costing U.S. companies billions of dollars every year. Critics said the bills would result in censorship and stifle Internet innovation.

• Reid postpones vote on anti-piracy bill

  Yielding to strong opposition from the high tech community, Senate and House leaders said Friday they will put off further action on legislation to combat online piracy.

• Google exec: Online piracy bills in Congress wrong

  Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that it would be a mistake for Congress to approve Hollywood-backed legislation meant to combat online piracy because it would be ineffective and could fundamentally alter the way the Internet works.

• Singer Harry Chapin recalled as a charitable giant

  Before there was Band Aid or Live Aid, a We Are the World or Hands Across America, there was singer-songwriter Harry Chapin _ lobbying for change in Congress, pestering an already convinced President Carter to establish a commission on world hunger, and passing the hat for donations at concerts large and small.

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  Texas executes Mexican after court stay rejected

  A Mexican national was executed Thursday for the rape-slaying of a San Antonio teenager after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a White House-supported appeal to spare him in a death penalty case where Texas justice triumphed over international treaty concerns.

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  Vt.'s Leahy says activist court majority at work

  Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy says a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Wal-Mart in a sex discrimination lawsuit on behalf of female employees makes it harder to hold corporations accountable under the country's civil rights laws.

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  HESSLER: A few bad men: Who should be held?

  Earlier this month, President Obama issued an executive order establishing a process for reviewing whether prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay continue to pose a threat. Under this order, those who have not been charged with a crime may continue to be detained indefinitely, and may come before a review board every three years, which will evaluate whether continued incarceration is necessary for public safety.

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  ROTUNDA: The point of no return

  Sometimes, a Supreme Court justice will recuse himself from hearing a case. The justice may own stock in the company before the court, or a close relative will be arguing the case. The situations in which justices recuse themselves are infrequent, and rarer still are the situations in which the resulting eight-member court will split in a 4-4 tie - until now.

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  Pfizer stock sold; Roberts to hear company's cases

  Chief Justice John Roberts has sold his shares of Pfizer Inc., a move that allows him to participate in two pending Supreme Court cases involving the pharmaceutical maker.

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  FBI access to e-mail and Web records raises fears

  Invasion of privacy in the Internet age. Expanding the reach of law enforcement to snoop on e-mail traffic or on Web surfing. Those are among the criticisms being aimed at the FBI as it tries to update a key surveillance law.

• Congress overreaches

  Often the most difficult things to see are those hidden in plain sight. Though rarely reported, the violation of checks and balances attributed to the executive branch by the Democrat-led Congress is actually getting perpetrated by the accusers themselves. They're like an intruding neighbor who charges you with trespassing because you leaned into his yard while throwing him out of your own.

• Patent reform . . . or ruin?

  Innovation plays a central role in America's culture. At the heart of our country's spirit of innovation is taking risks. As President John F. Kennedy observed in calling on his fellow citizens to reach for the heavens, we undertake challenges, "not because they are easy, but because they are hard." In today's global marketplace, our desire to innovate and our willingness to take risks should be America's greatest competitive advantage.

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