Ninth Circuit Hears Oral Argument In Strip Search Class Action

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on November 6, 2007, heard oral argument in Bull v. City and County of San Francisco, a class action challenging the County Jail’s former strip search policy. Until January 2004, the San Francisco County Jail made an unclothed visual inspection for drugs and weapons of prisoners who did not post bail and were not eligible for citation release. These prisoners were searched before they were placed in the general jail population. Ninth Circuit Judges Sidney Thomas, Richard Tallman and Sandra Ikuta heard about the record of drugs and weapons smuggling at the jail, and the unfortunate death of an inmate from a cocaine overdose after the jail relaxed its strip search policy.

Deputy City Attorney David Newdorf argued the case for the Sheriff. Sacramento lawyer Mark Merin argued for the plaintiffs.

You can listen to (or download) the 47-minute oral argument from the link on the Court Decisions page of Newdorf Legal. The argument was also reported in The Recorder, which you can read on the Articles and Commentaries page.

For all of your litigation questions, contact Newdorf Legal, a San Francisco business litigation law firm.