Supreme Court upholds ban on sleeping outdoors in homelessness case

An encampment at Tussing Park in Grants Pass, Ore., which has ticketed, fined and jailed the homeless for sleeping and camping in public spaces, March 18, 2024. In a 6-3 vote, split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court has upheld local laws aimed at banning homeless residents from sleeping outdoors, saying they did not violate the ConstitutionÕs prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote that the decision would leave society’s most vulnerable with fewer protections. The Supreme Court agreed to intervene after an unusual coalition urged the justices to consider the case. State legislators in Republican-led states such as Arizona and liberal leaders such as Gov. Gavin Newsom of California alike have pointed to a crucial court ruling in 2018 that they say has tied their hands from clearing encampments and managing a growing, and increasingly visible, crisis.

The dispute arose from Grants Pass, a town of about 40,000 in the foothills of southern Oregon. After residents complained of people sleeping in alleyways and property damage downtown, city leaders enforced a series of local ordinances that banned sleeping in public spaces. The town had no homeless shelter, aside from one run by a religious organization that required, among other rules, attendance at Christian services.

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld the lower court and the city appealed, asking the Supreme Court to weigh in. They wrestled with what lines could be drawn to regulate homelessness — and, crucially, who should make those rules.

Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Iowa's Supreme Court tells lower court to let strict abortion law go into effectIowa will now ban most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant.
Source: 10News - 🏆 732. / 50 Read more »

Iowa’s Supreme Court tells lower court to let strict abortion law go into effectThe Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that put a temporary block on the state’s strict abortion law, and is telling the lower court to let the law take effect.
Source: KPRC2 - 🏆 80. / 68 Read more »

Iowa’s Supreme Court tells lower court to let strict abortion law go into effectThe Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that put a temporary block on the state’s strict abortion law, and is telling the lower court to let the law take effect.
Source: WGAL - 🏆 331. / 59 Read more »

Oklahoma Supreme Court court rejects proposed religious public charter schoolThe state Supreme Court said the first-of-its-kind school, approved last year by the charter school board, violated the state and U.S. constitution.
Source: adndotcom - 🏆 293. / 63 Read more »

The one court that even the Supreme Court sees as going too farSteve Benen is a producer for 'The Rachel Maddow Show,' the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of 'The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.'
Source: MSNBC - 🏆 469. / 51 Read more »

Trump campaign reacts to bump stock Supreme Court decision: ‘The court has spoken’Former President Donald Trump's campaign supported the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a Trump administration ban on 'bump stocks,' which enable semiautomatic weapons to fire rounds faster.
Source: dcexaminer - 🏆 6. / 94 Read more »