WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court ruling handed down after a 5-4 decision will allow for even people arrested of minor offenses to be strip searched should law enforcement officials choose to do so.

The ruling was in regards to a New Jersey man who was erroneously arrested during a 2005 traffic stop for a fine he had already paid. He claimed that he was illegally strip searched twice in county jails.

The Feb. 2 ruling has drawn sharp criticism from the ACLU and other groups that call it yet another gross invasion of Americans’ privacy. An editorial on CNN.com also came out against it.

“Today’s decision jeopardizes the privacy rights of millions of people who are arrested each year and brought to jail, often for minor offenses,” said Steven R. Shapiro, legal director of the ACLU. “Being forced to strip naked is a humiliating experience that no one should have to endure absent reasonable suspicion. Jail security is important, but it does not require routinely strip searching everyone who is arrested for any reason, including traffic violations, and who may be in jail for only a few hours. ”

“The practical impact of the decision remains to be seen,” Shapiro added. “Ten states prohibit strip searching minor offenders as a matter of state law, and those laws are unaffected by today’s opinion. In addition, the Court was careful to recognize that strip searches may still be unconstitutional under certain circumstances.”

“The best way to preserve the privacy of the millions of Americans who are arrested each year for minor offenses,” Shapiro said, “is not to put them in jail in the first place. Instead, we should be using cheaper and more effective alternatives to incarceration.”

The ACLU and the ACLU of New jersey last year filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of five former New Jersey attorneys general who opposed the blanket strip search policies in place at the time at two New Jersey jails.