{"id":2226383,"date":"2024-04-21T10:07:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T14:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-could-pave-the-way-for-homeless-camp-bans\/"},"modified":"2024-04-21T10:11:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T14:11:12","slug":"supreme-court-could-pave-the-way-for-homeless-camp-bans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-could-pave-the-way-for-homeless-camp-bans\/","title":{"rendered":"The Supreme Court may enable bans on homeless camps"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-could-pave-the-way-for-homeless-camp-bans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2226383&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Supreme Court is set to \u200creview a case from Grants Pass, Oregon, \u200cinvolving fines \u200dfor breaching anti-camping laws that challenge \u200cefforts to regulate homelessness. This case has significant \u200cimplications for cities&#8217; authority over homelessness. The decision may impact how cities address homelessness across various states, potentially regulating or impeding efforts\u200b to combat homelessness. The upcoming Supreme Court review of\u200b a case from Grants Pass, Oregon, regarding fines \u200bfor violating anti-camping laws could have\u200d profound implications\u200c for cities&#8217; control over homelessness policies. The ruling&#8217;s outcome \u200dmight influence how municipalities nationwide deal with homelessness, either \u200dby imposing stricter regulations or hindering initiatives to\u200d address the issue\u200d effectively.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>As the nation\u2019s homelessness crisis deepens, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Supreme-Court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Supreme Court<\/a> on Monday will weigh a case that has captured the attention of state officials with some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/needles-crime-and-mental-illness-the-homeless-crisis-coming-for-democrats-in-november\/\" title=\"Needles, Crime, And Mental Illness: The Homeless Crisis Coming For Democrats In November\">largest homeless populations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Originating from the modest city of Grant Pass, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/oregon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Oregon\">Oregon<\/a>, the case involves fines imposed for violations of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/l-a-s-new-rules-on-encampments-limit-role-of-law-enforcement-seek-voluntary-compliance-from-homeless\/\" title=\"L.A.\u2019s New Rules On Encampments Limit Role Of Law Enforcement, Seek Voluntary Compliance From Homeless\">anti-camping ordinance<\/a>. A pair of homeless people sued the city and convinced lower courts the ordinance was a form of \u201ccruel and unusual\u201d punishment, a decision that state leaders from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California<\/a> to Arizona say has greatly hindered efforts to keep people off of the streets.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Volunteers helped dismantle tents to move an 80-year-old man and a woman blind in one eye, who risked being fined for staying too long, at Fruitdale Park, Saturday, March 23, 2024, in Grants Pass, Ore. (AP Photo\/Jenny Kane)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The high court\u2019s ultimate decision could give cities the power to regulate homelessness, or greatly inhibit those efforts.<\/p>\n<h2>How did this case wind up before the justices?<\/h2>\n<p>In September 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit found the city\u2019s ordinance constituted an Eighth Amendment violation against cruel and unusual punishment, delivering a ruling that hamstrung efforts to combat encampments in Alaska, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Arizona\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Arizona<\/a>, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The case also reinforced a separate 2018 precedent set in <em>Martin v. City of Boise <\/em>at the 9th Circuit, which found the amendment bars the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting or sleeping outside on homeless people who do not have access to shelter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese decisions tie the hands of city officials entirely when dealing with the homeless, and at its best, it causes a lot of confusion,\u201d Goldwater Institute Vice President for Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> last month.<\/p>\n<p>The Grant Pass ordinances impose a $295 fine for violations, and the fine increases to $537.60 if it is not paid. Following two citations, authorities in Grants Pass can issue an order that bans the individual from city property, and a violation of that order opens the potential for a conviction on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senators-denounce-abortion-protest-outside-kavanaughs-home\/\" title=\"Senators Denounce Abortion Protest Outside Kavanaugh\u2019s Home\">criminal trespass charges<\/a>, which carry penalties of up to 30 days in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>jail<\/a> and a $1250 fine.<\/p>\n<p>About 600 homeless residents in Grant Pass stay in tents and makeshift tarp shelters in the city park, saying they have nowhere else to go. The <em>Boise <\/em>decision held a person could not be punished for being homeless if the \u201cnumber of homeless persons \u2026 exceeds the number of available bed shelters,\u201d setting up essentially a \u201cnumerical formula\u201d for determining whether the application was cruel and unusual, according to Sandefur.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for Grant Pass say the <em>Boise<\/em> and <em>Grant Pass <\/em>decision \u201chave proved practically unworkable\u201d and has \u201cthrust federal courts into the inappropriate role of legislating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/homelessness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>homelessness<\/a> policy and yielded a host of complex rules that micromanage local governments on that pressing issue,\u201d according to their Supreme Court brief.<\/p>\n<p>The city contends that the Eighth Amendment regulates cruel and unusual methods of punishment, not the substance of criminal offenses and that punishments like fines and short jail terms do not fall under that description.<\/p>\n<p>The problems plaguing Grant Pass are only a fraction of the overall homelessness crisis. More than 650,000 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2023, a 12% uptick from 2022, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huduser.gov\/portal\/datasets\/ahar\/2023-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. <\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Washington progressives at odds with state Democratic leaders<\/h2>\n<p>Nearly 90 amicus briefs were filed in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/docket\/docketfiles\/html\/public\/23-175.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Gloria Johnson v. Grant Pass<\/a><\/em>, with nearly half of the briefs in support of the Oregon city and the other half in support of Johnson, a homeless woman who is the namesake of the case. At least two prominent Democrats support the Oregon town: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D).<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>FILE \u2013 California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives an update on the state\u2019s initiative to provide housing for homeless Californians to help stem the coronavirus, during a visit to a Motel 6 participating in the program in Pittsburg, Calif., June 30, 2020. California cities and counties still don\u2019t know how much they\u2019ll have to pay for Newsom\u2019s pandemic program to house homeless people in hotel rooms after the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in October 2023 that it was limiting the number of days eligible for reimbursement. (AP Photo\/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>California has invested more than $20 billion since 2019 to help get people off the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco. From Newsom\u2019s perspective, the Supreme Court now has a chance to \u201cend the costly delays from lawsuits that have plagued our efforts to clear encampments and deliver services to those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Golden State governor argues that \u201crulings from the bench have tied the hands of state and local governments to address this issue,\u201d according to a Jan. 12 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2024\/01\/12\/governor-newsom-statement-on-u-s-supreme-court-agreeing-to-hear-case-on-homelessness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>, which marked a rare acknowledgment by a Democratic lawmaker on how the Republican-appointed Supreme Court majority could hand his state a pivotal favor.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom stands in firm contrast to progressive positions like those including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), two lawmakers who have publicly denounced ordinances existing in cities like Grant Pass. <\/p>\n<p>Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez signed on to a brief with 17 other progressive lawmakers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/23\/23-175\/306574\/20240403114541819_23-175%20bsac%20Congressional%20Amici%20Brief%20TO%20FILE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"writing\">writing<\/a> that \u201cpunishing human beings for existing when they have nowhere safe to rest is not only unconstitutional, it is also the least effective and most costly response a city can choose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The National Homelessness Law Center and the National Coalition for the Homeless, a group of activists who share similar viewpoints as the hard left lawmakers, are planning to rally outside the Supreme Court building on Monday.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Supreme Court Justices listen as President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 7, 2024. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>How will the justices rule?<\/h2>\n<p>Legal experts say the case could come down to whether a majority on the Supreme Court believes the 9th Circuit misconstrued the Establishment Clause because the 9th Circuit court refused to count religious homeless shelters in determining whether there were enough beds available. <\/p>\n<p id=\"gmail-block-a1f179c0-49f0-41d6-9082-4e914937b3c9\">\u201cIt is wrong to treat religious homeless shelters as inherently suspect instead of as inherently helpful in solving this massive social problem.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.becketlaw.org\/media\/supreme-court-should-affirm-role-of-religious-homeless-shelters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Eric Rassbach, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-defector-emails-pipeline-to-obama-admin-seen-as-currency\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden Defector Emails: 'Pipeline' to Obama Admin Seen as 'Currency'\">vice president<\/a> and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Rassbach\u2019s group filed a brief in the case, arguing that the 9th Circuit relied on a test that was overturned in its 2022 decision <em>Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court\u2019s majority could also determine cruel and unusual punishment evaluations must be \u201caddressed on a case by case bases and that this numeral formula just doesn\u2019t apply,\u201d Sandefur said, adding he could see a separate opinion stating the Eighth Amendment \u201calso shouldn\u2019t apply to anything other than sentences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t like to decide anything they don\u2019t have to decide, usually, and so I think that\u2019s what the majority is going to say,\u201d Sandefur added.<\/p>\n<p>A decision in the case is expected by the end of June.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amid the worsening homelessness crisis, the Supreme Court is set to review a case from Grants Pass, Oregon, involving fines for breaching anti-camping laws. This case has piqued the interest of state officials in areas with significant homeless populations and could have far-reaching implications<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2226384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24105353378147-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24105353378147-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}