Supreme Court to weigh whether cities can punish homeless people for sleeping on public land
The Supreme Court will consider whether city ordinances that bar homeless people from camping on public property violate constitutional protections against "cruel and unusual punishment."
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case that considers whether municipal ordinances that bar homeless people from camping on public property violate constitutional protections against “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The justices will review an appeals court ruling, the only one of its kind, which found that ordinances in Grants Pass, Oregon, are prohibited under the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.
The ruling in question was issued by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022 and applies to all nine states within its jurisdiction, including California. Several of those states have large populations of homeless people.
Among those asking the Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court are local officials in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix and other cities.
The appeals court ruled 2-1 that Grants Pass, which is about 250 miles south of Portland, cannot “enforce its anti-camping ordinances against homeless persons for the mere act of sleeping outside with rudimentary protection from the elements, or for sleeping in their car at night, when there is no other place in the city for them to go.”
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