The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday that it is not “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment to remove homeless people from encampments and to imprison them for repeatedly violating anti-camping laws.
The case, City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, was watched closely by civic leaders nationwide who are struggling to deal with homelessness — especially in Los Angeles, California, where the homeless population has continued to grow.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, expressed sympathy for the homeless, and acknowledged that the issue is complex and difficult to resolve. But he noted that laws against encampments were “commonplace,” and said that the Eighth Amendment was a “poor foundation” on which to mount a challenge against them. The right forum in which to debate responses to homelessness was in democratically-elected governments, not in the federal courts.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the Court’s decision “disappointing” — although her own city is struggling to deal with homeless encampments:
Bass’s strategy is to move homeless people into motels or hotels, and bill the taxpayers — and has met with only limited success, with some people benefiting but the homeless population growing.
In April, Bass implored wealthy residents of the city to donate money for property to be devoted to the homeless. Los Angeles County is trying to replace a quarter-cent sales tax for homeless services to a half-cent in a ballot initiative.
Justice Sonya Sotomayor said in her dissent: “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime. For some people, sleeping outside is their only option. The City of Grants Pass jails and fines those people for sleeping anywhere in public at any time, including in their cars, if they use as little as a blanket to keep warm or a rolled-up shirt as a pillow. For people with no access to shelter, that punishes them for being homeless. That is unconscionable and unconstitutional.”
The case is City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, No. 23-175, in the Supreme Court of the United States.
