Cert. Granted in 4th Amendment Strip Search Case
by: Grapkoch • April 3, 2011 • no comments
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington
The Court announced this morning that it has granted certiorari in the case of Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders. The issue in that case is "Whether the Fourth Amendment permits a jail to conduct a suspicionless strip search of every individual arrested for any minor offense no matter what the circumstances."
Up until this point, the answer to that inquiry has been governed by the balancing test established in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979). Applying that test, a Circuit split has developed on the issue-8 Circuits hold that such searches are impermissible, while 3 hold to the contrary. Here, the 3rd Circuit joined the minority, in large part, because of the concern that "[i]f non-indictable offenders were not subject to automatic search it would create a security gap which offenders could exploit with relative ease." The balance of the opinion below can be found here.
More in-depth coverage of the case can be found by visiting the case page at SCOTUSblog.com.
