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(The Guardian) Court rules unhoused people sleeping outside can be punished
The supreme court has ruled that a town in Oregon can fine and jail people sleeping outside even when they have no access to shelter, in a decision that stands to impact the approach to homelessness in cities across the US.
The justices ruled in favor of the city of Grants Pass, which in 2019 passed ordinances prohibiting sleeping and camping in its public parks and on its streets, banning unhoused people from “using a blanket, pillow, or cardboard box for protection from the elements”.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the ruling, wrote: Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it. The question this case presents is whether the Eighth Amendment grants federal judges primary responsibility for assessing those causes and devising those responses.
Gorsuch continued: A handful of federal judges cannot begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding ‘how best to handle’ a pressing social question like homelessness.
The Grants Pass case originated with a challenge by Debra Blake, a woman convicted of illegal camping in the small Oregon mountain town, where rents are rising and there is only one overnight shelter for adults.
Blake became the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that ultimately was decided in her favor by the ninth-circuit of appeals in 2022.
The court ruled that Grants Pass could not enforce its camping ban if it didn’t provide shelter, saying that criminalizing sleeping outside when shelter is unavailable constituted “cruel and unusual punishment”.
The decision applied to the western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The Oregon town appealed to the supreme court.
The supreme court has ruled that a town in Oregon can fine and jail people sleeping outside even when they have no access to shelter, in a decision that stands to impact the approach to homelessness in cities across the US.
The justices ruled in favor of the city of Grants Pass, which in 2019 passed ordinances prohibiting sleeping and camping in its public parks and on its streets, banning unhoused people from “using a blanket, pillow, or cardboard box for protection from the elements”.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the ruling, wrote: Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it. The question this case presents is whether the Eighth Amendment grants federal judges primary responsibility for assessing those causes and devising those responses.
Gorsuch continued: A handful of federal judges cannot begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding ‘how best to handle’ a pressing social question like homelessness.
The Grants Pass case originated with a challenge by Debra Blake, a woman convicted of illegal camping in the small Oregon mountain town, where rents are rising and there is only one overnight shelter for adults.
Blake became the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that ultimately was decided in her favor by the ninth-circuit of appeals in 2022.
The court ruled that Grants Pass could not enforce its camping ban if it didn’t provide shelter, saying that criminalizing sleeping outside when shelter is unavailable constituted “cruel and unusual punishment”.
The decision applied to the western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The Oregon town appealed to the supreme court.
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