this United States Supreme Court U.S. cities have the right to ban homeless people from sleeping outdoors, a ruling Friday ruled in a lawsuit filed against an Oregon city seeking protections for its homeless residents under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Challengers of Grants Pass, Ore.’s position argued that the amendment, which prohibits authorities from imposing “cruel and unusual” punishment, applies to homeless individuals and protects them from municipalities banning encamping on public property. Impact of the Act. But the court held that the Eighth Amendment did not guarantee protection for the homeless.
“The Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause focuses on the question of what ‘method or kind of punishment’ the government can impose upon a criminal conviction, not the question of whether the government can criminalize a particular conduct in the first place or how to ensure its safety.” conviction,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.
Applying precedent to define the terms “cruel” and “unusual,” the majority held that the Grant Pass Act measures did not qualify as either term because they were neither intended to impose “horror, pain, or humiliation” and because Laws against camps are “commonplace”.
The case was decided 6-3 along the court’s ideological lines. Justices appointed by Republican presidents (Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts) ruled in favor of the order, and judges appointed by Democratic presidents (Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Sonia Sotomayor) ruled in favor of the order.
Sotomayor read her dissent from the bench in an unusual move that is often considered an expression of strong dissent from the majority opinion.
She said such laws were “unconscionable and unconstitutional,” later adding, “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime.”
David Dworkin, President and CEO national housing conference The National Health Council (NHC), a collaborative body for affordable housing stakeholders, slammed the decision in a statement released on Friday.
“The Supreme Court’s decision to criminalize homelessness is a tragic failure of governance and a major step backwards in addressing America’s homelessness crisis,” he said. “Today’s ruling casts a harsh light on what is often an unavoidable situation for people. The imposition of criminal penalties violates the basic dignity and human rights of our most vulnerable citizens.”
He added that imposing legal penalties on people sleeping in public spaces, especially when there are no other options, “is unjust, counterproductive, and has been proven time and time again to be ineffective by the broadest range of housing experts.”
