Supreme Court divided over homeless ban and rights of the unhoused

Supreme Court justices expressed concern on Monday about punishing homeless people for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go while also struggling with how to ensure local and state leaders have the flexibility to deal with the growing number of unhoused individuals nationwide.

Justice Elena Kagan told the city’s attorney that its laws go well beyond the need to clear encampments from public spaces. “Sleeping is a biological necessity,” Kagan said. “Sleeping in public is kind of like breathing in public.”Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked where people are supposed to sleep in a city that lacks sufficient shelter beds.

Three homeless people — Debra Blake, Gloria Johnson and John Logan — sued Grants Pass in 2018, saying the city, with a population of 40,000 people, was punishing them unconstitutionally “based on their status of being involuntarily homeless.” They cited the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.more than 600 unhoused residents of Grants Pass, with another 1,000 living on the edge, but local service providers say at least twice as many are homeless.

“The homelessness crisis is a significant challenge for communities large and small throughout the nation,” the city’s legal team, led by attorney Theane D. Evangelis, told the court in a court filing ahead of Monday’s argument. “The solution is not to stretch the Eighth Amendment beyond its limits and place the federal courts in charge of this pressing social problem.

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