The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that strip searches are not generally allowed as searches incident to arrest. The decision adds to an existing split among federal appellate courts over how the Fourth Amendment applies to such invasive searches at the time of arrest.
The court's holding distinguishes between searches conducted at the scene of arrest and those conducted after an arrestee is admitted to jail. According to the ruling, once an arrestee is placed in the general jail population, strip searches are generally permitted. The decision thus narrows the scope of what officers may do immediately upon arrest.
This ruling deepens a circuit split, as other circuits have taken different positions on whether strip searches incident to arrest are permissible. The Third Circuit's approach appears to treat the jail-admission context as the primary justification for a strip search, rather than the arrest itself.