Pete Yost

WASHINGTON -- 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.

Indicating they will be monitoring the growing use of such technology, five justices said they could see constitutional and privacy problems with police using many kinds of electronic surveillance for long-term tracking of citizens' movements without warrants.

While the justices differed on legal rationales, their unanimous outcome was an unusual setback for government and police agencies grown accustomed to being given leeway in investigations in post-Sept. 11 America, including by the Supreme Court. The views of at least the five justices raised the possibility of new hurdles down the road for police who want to use high-tech surveillance of suspects, including various types of GPS technology.

WASHINGTON -- The FBI released documents Monday stating that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner assisted the agency in two investigations -- one of them apparently a terrorism probe -- in the years leading up to his pardon by President Ronald Reagan on a campaign-contributions conviction.

The Associated Press and other news organizations requested the FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act following Steinbrenner's death in July. The first release was made last December. The two releases combined totaled about 800 pages.

In a newly released 1988 FBI memo, the FBI said that it "supports the contention that George Steinbrenner has provided the FBI with valuable assistance."

NEW YORK — They sometimes worked in pairs and pretended to be married so they could blend in as the couple next door while working as spies in a throwback to the Cold War, complete with fake identities, invisible ink, coded radio transmissions and encrypted data to avoid detection, authorities say.

WASHINGTON -- Crime in the United States dropped dramatically in 2009, bucking a historical trend that links rising crime rates to economic woes. Property crimes and violent offenses each declined about 5 percent, the FBI said Monday, citing reports from law enforcement coast to coast.