See SCOTUSBlog and the New York Times for inital coverage of the US Supreme Court's decision allowing strip searches of anyone, no matter what their alleged offense, in American jails.
Though Grits hopes to be wrong, I wouldn't be surprised to see Texas county jails quickly changing their policies to take advantage of this new authority unless the Legislature steps in next year to regulate the practice. Just a couple of years ago, Bexar County paid out a $4.5 million settlement over its strip searching policy at the jail and changed their procedures so that "Only detainees charged with felony crimes or those suspected of having contraband will continue to be searched," a local TV station reported at the time.
The ruling overturns a 5th Circuit ruling previously governing jails in Texas which held that jails couldn't strip search inmates arrested for petty offenses without being able to articulate "individualized reasonable suspicion." This new ruling overturns that precedent and clears the way for Texas jails to begin strip searching every arrestee if local Sheriffs choose to do so.
I've not heard of the 5th Circuit restrictions on strip searches in jails (which have been in place since Kelly v. Foti in 1996) posing any particular problems, and IMO the Legislature should reintroduce those same restrictions when they meet in 2013. When the courts refuse to protect liberty, it's up to the other branches of government to step in.
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