Crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the analysts responsible for creating them give testimony and subject themselves to cross-examination, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision.

The ruling was an extension of a 2004 decision that breathed new life into the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause, which gives a criminal defendant the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”

Four dissenting justices said that scientific evidence should be treated differently than, say, statements from witnesses to a crime. They warned that the decision would subject the nation’s criminal justice system to “a crushing burden” and that it means “guilty defendants will go free, on the most technical grounds.”

The two sides differed sharply about the practical consequences of requiring testimony from crime laboratory analysts. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the four dissenters, said Philadelphia’s 18 drug analysts will now each be required to testify in more than 69 trials next year, and Cleveland’s six drug analysts in 117 trials each.

In an 8-1 ruling, the justices said that Safford Middle School officials violated the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches with their treatment of Savana Redding. However, the court also ruled that the Arizona school officials cannot be held financially liable for their search.

Redding was 13 when the educators in rural eastern Arizona conducted the search. They were looking for pills — the equivalent of two Advils. The district bans prescription and over-the-counter drugs and the school was acting on a tip from another student.

The school's search of Redding's backpack and outer clothes was permissible, the court said. But the justices said that officials went too far when they asked to search her underwear.

Prosecutor Nicole Waid told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola at a hearing that 88-year-old James von Brunn's doctors say he won't be ready for his first court appearance in the shooting until early next week.

Von Brunn faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of museum guard Stephen T. Johns, who had come to open the door for him. Von Brunn was hospitalized after being shot in the face by other guards. The FBI has said he is likely to survive.

Ward gave no specifics about von Brunn's condition, except to say that he can hear and understand information about his case.

Attorneys said he was moved Friday from George Washington University Hospital, where he was taken after the shooting, to the Greater Southeast Community Hospital, where he can be overseen by corrections officials.

Facciola scheduled a hearing with von Brunn for June 30. Von Brunn's court-appointed attorney, A.J. Kramer, said he has been in touch with his client and will let him know about the hearing.

Hal Turner, 47, a former Internet radio talk show host, was taken into custody by FBI agents who went to his North Bergen home with a search warrant, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Prosecutors quoted a Turner Internet posting as saying: "Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed."

The posting included a map showing the Everett Dirksen Federal Courthouse, where the three judges are based. It said a map showing the judges' homes would later be added.

The posting also referred to the murder of the mother and husband of Chicago-based federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in February 2005 — a crime that sent shock waves across the nation.

"Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court didn't get the hint after those killings," the posting said. "It appears another lesson is needed."

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced the arrest, stressing the importance federal officials placed on the case.

The high court agreed to hear an Obama administration appeal seeking to reinstate a 2006 law providing for the continued detention of "sexually dangerous" convicted federal inmates who have served their prison terms.

A U.S. appeals court based in Virginia struck down the law for exceeding the limits of congressional authority and intruding on police powers Constitution reserves for the states, many of which have similar laws.

The law had been challenged by five inmates who had been kept in custody at a federal prison hospital in North Carolina after their sentences ended.

The U.S. Justice Department said a total of 95 inmates have been identified as possible candidates for post-sentence detention under the law.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled the states could confine dangerous sex offenders to mental institutions after they serve their sentences.

Many state laws provide for the commitment under civil law of mentally ill sex offenders who pose a risk of committing more crimes involving children if released into the community.

The federal law defined "sexually dangerous" as someone who suffers from a serious mental illness, abnormality or disorder and would have difficulty in refraining from sexually violent conduct or child molestation, if released.

Penelope Jordan pleaded guilty Monday to theft of government property.

The 61-year-old woman was arrested in March after police found her mother's decaying body barricaded in a bedroom in Sebastian, about an hour north of West Palm Beach.

Jordan told officials her mother had actually died in early 2003.

Prosecutors say Jordan was collecting Social Security benefits, as well a military pension from her mother's late husband.

Jordan's plea deal calls for her to pay $237,876 in restitution. Her sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 21.