Titanic Tours Legal

12/29/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

In one of its first rulings of the new session, the United States Supreme Court on Monday allowed for sightseeing tours and the taking of pictures of the Titanic, handing a setback to the company with exclusive rights to salvage artifacts from the famous shipwreck. The court, without any comment or dissent, rejected an appeal by RMS Titanic to reverse an earlier ruling that allows tourists to visit the site of the wreckage 12,500 feet below the ocean's surface so long as they do not interfere with salvage operations. No word yet on when tour groups will begin.