{"id":2226811,"date":"2024-04-22T03:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T07:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-deliberates-over-homeless-camps-and-a-fictional-right-to-housing\/"},"modified":"2024-04-22T03:53:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T07:53:56","slug":"scotus-deliberates-over-homeless-camps-and-a-fictional-right-to-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-deliberates-over-homeless-camps-and-a-fictional-right-to-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Considers Homeless Camps and Imaginary &#8216;Right to Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/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%2Fscotus-deliberates-over-homeless-camps-and-a-fictional-right-to-housing%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=2226811&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 Ninth Circuit Court granted homeless\u200c individuals\u200b the right to occupy public\u2063 areas in a\u200b landmark ruling. However, the Supreme Court is set to reevaluate this decision amidst the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-the-truckers-win\/\" title=\"Did The Truckers Win?\">growing homeless crisis<\/a>.\u200b The debate centers\u2063 on whether\u200b the Constitution guarantees a \u2063right to public housing for\u2064 the homeless, sparking a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-city-declares-itself-a-sanctuary-for-the-unborn-after-ballot-initiative\/\" title=\"Texas City Declares Itself a Sanctuary for the Unborn After Ballot Initiative\">contentious legal battle<\/a>. The Ninth\u200d Circuit Court&#8217;s groundbreaking ruling granted homeless individuals the right to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/l-a-democrat-running-for-mayor-wants-city-to-resume-daytime-ban-on-homeless-encampments\/\" title=\"L.A. Democrat Running For Mayor Wants City To Resume Daytime Ban On Homeless Encampments\">occupy public spaces<\/a>. However, the Supreme Court is\u200c now reassessing \u2062this \u2063decision in light of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/group-sues-los-angeles-mayor-over-homelessness-emergency-orders\/\" title=\"LA Mayor sued over homelessness orders.\">escalating homeless crisis<\/a>. The central issue\u2064 at \u200dhand is the interpretation of whether the Constitution assures a right to \u2064public housing for\u2062 the homeless, igniting a heated legal dispute.  <\/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<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Do the homeless have a right to live on public property? In 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that they do. Today, however, with growing homeless encampments commonplace in many cities, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Monday in a case that will reevaluate that question.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>City of Grants Pass v. Johnson<\/em>, the Ninth Circuit held that the Eighth Amendment\u2019s cruel and unusual punishments clause prohibits a state from using its criminal or civil law to prevent the homeless from \u201csleeping\u201d on public property unless there is indoor bed space available from nonsectarian parties that every such person can use to sleep.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1145541975\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-62add41282529caff785e8d3029434a2 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-62add41282529caff785e8d3029434a2\"><\/div>\n<p>In essence, the Ninth Circuit read that clause to grant the homeless a right to live on public property until the government creates adequate housing for them \u2014 which is tantamount to saying that the homeless have a constitutional right to public housing. The Supreme Court should categorically\u00a0reject\u00a0this gross distortion of the Constitution and reverse the Ninth Circuit\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n<p>For starters, nothing \u2014 and we mean <em>nothing<\/em> \u2014 in the text or history of the cruel and unusual punishments clause remotely grants anyone a right to public housing. The text refers only to \u201cpunishment\u201d for a crime. Keeping anyone, including the homeless, from sleeping on public property is not remotely a \u201cpunishment.\u201d It is merely proper public land management done for the citizenry\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n<p>History proves that the founding era adopted that clause to keep the government from boiling convicted felons in oil or inflicting on them equally ghastly sanctions. It is ludicrous to suggest that anyone living in 1791, when the Bill of Rights became law, would or could have read that clause as granting homeless individuals a federal constitutional right to public housing.<\/p>\n<p>It is equally unimaginable to suggest that anyone other than a result-oriented judge bent on willfully substituting his or her personal political preferences for the law, could adopt such an interpretation of the cruel and unusual punishments clause today. Each Ninth Circuit judge who joined in that ruling willfully violated the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/28\/453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">oath<\/a> each one took to \u201cfaithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [a judge] under the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d7d9ec4bd5f5af9453aef4005d9928b4 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d7d9ec4bd5f5af9453aef4005d9928b4\"><\/div>\n<p>Indeed, the Supreme Court <em>expressly<\/em> rejected the right invented by the Ninth Circuit in at least two separate decisions. <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/405\/56\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Lindsey v. Normet<\/em><\/a> ruled that the Constitution does <em>not<\/em> guarantee the indigent the right to a home. <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/468\/288\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Clark v. Community for Creative Nonviolence<\/em><\/a> ruled that the Constitution does <em>not<\/em> guarantee the homeless a right to sleep on public property.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the court later held in <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/487\/450\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools<\/em><\/a> (along with several other decisions) that the Constitution does <em>not<\/em> oblige the government to dispense public welfare benefits of\u00a0any\u00a0type. But, hey, the Ninth Circuit judges who joined this opinion obviously live by the maxim \u201cgo big or go home.\u201d If you\u2019re going to ignore one Supreme Court decision, what\u2019s two (or three or four) more?<\/p>\n<p>Homelessness has existed since the common law first identified property rights in William the Conqueror\u2019s <em>Doomsday Book<\/em> of 1086. What makes today\u2019s homelessness different are three factors: (1) the prevalence of illicit drug use by members of the homeless population, particularly synthetically created drugs such as methamphetamine and fentanyl; (2) the willingness of local governments to allow those individuals, along with the noninstitutionalized mentally ill, to use public streets and parks as informal, open-air living spaces; and (3) the ability of television and social media to create visual images of the dire conditions found in modern-day, outdoor Bedlams.<\/p>\n<p>While some elected officials might be doing an inadequate, poor, or disastrous job of addressing homelessness, it is a fantasy to believe the Constitution demands that elected officials create a home or a room for everyone who wants one but can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fa3853da0ee930e8732b941391b25181 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fa3853da0ee930e8732b941391b25181\"><\/div>\n<p>How did the Ninth Circuit justify its rebellion? The majority strung together passages plucked out of context from two 1960s Supreme Court opinions \u2014 the majority opinion in <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/370\/660\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Robinson<\/em> <em>v. California<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>and Justice Byron White\u2019s concurring opinion in <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/392\/514\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Powell v. Texas<\/em><\/a><em>. Robinson<\/em> held that California could not make it a crime to be a drug addict, and Justice White in <em>Powell<\/em> said that even if a state could not criminalize being a drunkard, a state could make it a crime to be drunk\u00a0in public.<\/p>\n<p>That is no more than what Grants Pass, Oregon, sought to do here. Grants Pass did\u00a0not\u00a0make sleeping or being homeless a crime, although homeless encampments force on residents and the people who live nearby the unfortunate reality of being susceptible to high rates of crime, including illicit drug use and assault. Additionally, allowing homeless individuals to encamp on public property causes concern for a dangerous rise in prostitution, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-bill-targets-illicit-online-drug-sales-to-address-fentanyl-crisis\/\" title=\"California bill aims to combat fentanyl crisis by cracking down on illegal online drug sales.\">illicit drug sales<\/a> and usage, and various activities that state governments opt to outlaw in the name of public safety.<\/p>\n<p>Grants Pass only sought to preserve for the public at large the opportunity to use public streets and parks without having to step around people or fecal matter, without having the value of their property degraded by a living toxic waste site next door, and without being assaulted by drug addicts or the mentally ill. Neither <em>Robinson<\/em> nor <em>Powell<\/em> came close to telling the state and local governments to stand down when the homeless occupy public property, and neither one read a homeless protection clause into the Constitution. Only the Ninth Circuit did that.<\/p>\n<p>In their brief before the Supreme Court, the respondents largely abandon any attempt to defend the Ninth Circuit\u2019s misleading reading of <em>Robinson<\/em> and <em>Powell<\/em>. Instead, their argument is that a municipality or county cannot enforce its trespass laws in a way that forces the homeless to leave the county for a different location. Grants Pass has not physically rounded up anyone and put them on planes, trains, or automobiles bound elsewhere. Aside from being factually inaccurate, the respondents\u2019 argument is just another form of the claim that the homeless have a constitutional right to a home wherever they happen to land.<\/p>\n<p>But if adopted, that argument would place\u00a0on every city and county in the nation\u00a0the burden of guaranteeing a home for the homeless because no jurisdiction would be able to enforce its public property trespass laws unless there were somewhere for the homeless to live. No jurisdiction would be able to escape that obligation by pointing to the ample supply of living quarters in a neighboring jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>Every jurisdiction \u2014 not just the 50 states, but also the more than 3,140 counties across the nation \u2014 would have to set aside shelter for the homeless just to ensure that they have room wherever they happen to come to rest. That is no different than saying that the homeless have a constitutional right to shelter that is enforceable against every state and county in the nation. That\u2019s an impressive claim to make, particularly in the teeth of the Supreme Court decisions already rejecting it.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0\u201cTop Gun: Maverick,\u201d after seeing Captain Pete \u201cMaverick\u201d Mitchell (Tom Cruise) break Mach 10 in a hypersonic aircraft, Rear Admiral Chester \u201cHammer\u201d Cain (Ed Harris) remarks, \u201cYou got some balls, stick jockey. I\u2019ll give you that.\u201d The same could be said of the respondents and the Ninth Circuit in the <em>Grants Pass<\/em> case.<\/p>\n<p>But audacity is all they have. The Supreme Court should reject this attempt to make up a Constitution that does not exist and reverse the Ninth Circuit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-db48256ab9ba6ed6649ef08d5058444b fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-db48256ab9ba6ed6649ef08d5058444b\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court granted homeless individuals the right to occupy public areas. Now, as homeless camps proliferate in cities, the Supreme Court will review this precedent. Next Monday, oral arguments will address the ongoing debate on homeless rights in City X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3082,"featured_media":2226812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/51303937314_3d558b7215_k.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/51303937314_3d558b7215_k.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226811","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\/3082"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}