- Court: United States Supreme Court
- Area(s) of Law: Criminal Procedure
- Date Filed: October 12, 2011
- Case #: 10-945
- Judge(s)/Court Below: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Petitioner was arrested on warrant for civil contempt for failure to pay a fine. While awaiting trial, Petitioner was repeatedly required to strip naked for the purpose of visual observation to ensure that he was not bringing contraband into the correctional facility. 听Petitioner filed a lawsuit alleging that respondents violated the Fourth Amendment by subjecting him to strip searches without suspicion. 听The district court found for Petitioner. 听The Third Circuit reversed, holding that the strip searches were permissible under the Fourth Amendment.
Petitioner argues that strip searches of arrestees are subject to the Fourth Amendment's requirement of reasonableness. 听Petitioner focuses on case history to argue that a balancing test between societal interests in penal security and prisoner privacy is required in order to decide if a strip search is reasonable. 听Since Petitioner was arrested for a minor offense and a strip search is a significant intrusion on privacy, he argues that the intrusion must be justified by some form of suspicion, rather than a "blanket" policy of strip searching all arrestees. 听Additionally, Petitioner argues that the intrusion on personal privacy from a suspicionless strip search is not outweighed by the interest of reducing contraband brought into jails. 听Finally, Petitioner argues that the reliance of the Third Circuit on Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979), was mistaken.