The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to allow cities to continue banning homeless encampments.
The ruling distinguishes “status” versus managing actions.
According to the Supreme Court, enforcing public encampment laws does not fall under “cruel and unusual punishment.”
“The Court cannot say that the punishments Grants Pass imposes here qualify as cruel and unusual,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote. “The city imposes only limited fines for first-time offenders, an order temporarily barring an individual from camping in a public park for repeat offenders, and a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail for those who later violate an order. Such punishments do not qualify as cruel because they are not designed to ‘superad[d]’ ‘terror, pain, or disgrace.’”
The ruling reverses a decision from the Ninth Circuit, which prevented cities from enforcing anti-encampment policies.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) responded to the ruling, stating, in part, that it “provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) said that the ruling has been a “long time coming.”
“Homelessness in California is an absolute disgrace,” he said. “It is a crisis. It is a national embarrassment.”