The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the government's broad use of an exemption in the federal Freedom of Information Act to withhold documents from the public, ruling for a Washington state resident who wants Navy maps relating to its main West Coast ammunition dump.

The court, by an 8-1 vote, threw out an appeals court ruling that backed the Navy's decision to withhold maps showing the extent of damage expected from an explosion at the ammunition dump near Port Townsend in western Washington.

Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said maps could not be withheld under a FOIA provision that deals with a federal agency's "personnel rules and practices." Kagan said that part of the law concerns "issues of employee relations and human resources."

Justice Stephen Breyer dissented, saying the courts have consistently allowed broad use of the exemption for 30 years. "I would let sleeping dogs lie," Breyer said.

The case before the court revolved around competing ideas of public safety. The government said that releasing the maps could allow someone to identify the precise location of the munitions that are stored at its base on Indian Island.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the government's broad use of an exemption in the federal Freedom of Information Act to withhold documents from the public, ruling for a Washington state resident who wants Navy maps relating to its main West Coast ammunition dump.

The court, by an 8-1 vote, threw out an appeals court ruling that backed the Navy's decision to withhold maps showing the extent of damage expected from an explosion at the ammunition dump near Port Townsend in western Washington.

Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said maps could not be withheld under a FOIA provision that deals with a federal agency's "personnel rules and practices." Kagan said that part of the law concerns "issues of employee relations and human resources."

Justice Stephen Breyer dissented, saying the courts have consistently allowed broad use of the exemption for 30 years. "I would let sleeping dogs lie," Breyer said.

The case before the court revolved around competing ideas of public safety. The government said that releasing the maps could allow someone to identify the precise location of the munitions that are stored at its base on Indian Island.

But Glen Milner, a longtime community activist, said that the people who live near the base have valid reasons for wanting to know whether they would be endangered by an explosion. An explosion at the Navy's Port Chicago ammunition depot during World War II killed 320 people.

Milner has raised safety concerns about several area naval facilities. While he could not get the map for the ammunition dump, an official at an area submarine base provided Milner a map showing the probable range of damage from an explosion at that facility.

A southwestern Illinois man accused of using a printer to turn bleached $5 bills into $100 bills has been ordered to spend two years and three months in federal prison.

A U.S. District Court judge in East St. Louis also fined 25-year-old Raphael Solomon of Chester $1,000 and ordered him to pay $1,500 in restitution.

Solomon pleaded guilty in November to one count of manufacturing counterfeit currency.

Authorities say Solomon bought a printer in December 2009 and used it to make the bogus $100 bills he then passed in various Randolph County-area stores.

A community college student who says he's never done anything that should attract the interest of federal law enforcement officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the FBI for secretly putting a GPS tracking device on his car.

Yasir Afifi, 20, says a mechanic doing an oil change on his car in October discovered the device stuck with magnets between his right rear wheel and exhaust. They weren't sure what it was, but Afifi had the mechanic remove it and a friend posted photos of it online to see whether anyone could identify it. Two days later, Afifi says, agents wearing bullet-proof vests pulled him over as he drove away from his apartment in San Jose, Calif., and demanded their property back.

Afifi's lawsuit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims the FBI violated his civil rights by putting the device on his car without a warrant. His lawyers say Afifi, who was born in the United States, was targeted because of his extensive ties to the Middle East — he travels there frequently, helps support two brothers who live in Egypt, and his father was a well-known Islamic-American community leader who died last year in Egypt.

FBI Spokesman Michael Kortan declined to discuss the lawsuit or the agency's investigation into Afifi, but said, "The FBI conducts investigations under well-established Department of Justice and FBI guidelines that determine what investigative steps or techniques are appropriate. Those guidelines also ensure the protection of civil and constitutional rights."

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that a court for veterans shouldn't rigidly enforce deadlines on military vets who suffer from mental illnesses.

The high court ruled that Doretha H. Henderson, wife of the late David Henderson, can continue his appeal after he was denied benefits.

Henderson's husband was discharged from the armed forces in 1952 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He asked the Veterans Affairs Department for home care in 2001 and was denied. He missed a 120-day deadline for appeal to a veterans court by 15 days, blaming it on his illness.

The veterans court and a federal appeals court agreed that his case was over because Henderson missed the deadline.

Henderson died last Oct. 24, and his wife has taken up his case, arguing that Congress meant the benefits system to be helpful to veterans and their benefits claims.

Michigan's court system is studying whether to implement certification standards for translators, an effort to address criticisms that help for those who aren't fluent in English is uneven and sometimes violates suspects' constitutional rights.

A report from the State Bar of Michigan issued in June 2010 concluded translation services are underfunded and "inconsistently applied across courts, in many cases in violation of constitutional and federal requirements."

Court administrators are now considering whether to develop policies, training levels and continuing education requirements, are studying how much money courts spend for interpreters, and are looking for resources to find interpreters and ways to make changes in tough budget times.

Ionia-Montcalm counties Circuit Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger is heading a state courts committee working on the issue.