{"id":2286886,"date":"2024-07-01T08:11:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T12:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-cities-can-enforce-bans-on-homeless-encampments\/"},"modified":"2024-07-01T08:17:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T12:17:59","slug":"scotus-cities-can-enforce-bans-on-homeless-encampments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-cities-can-enforce-bans-on-homeless-encampments\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Rules Cities Can Implement Homeless Encampment Bans"},"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\">16<\/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-cities-can-enforce-bans-on-homeless-encampments%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=2286886&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 U.S. Supreme Lawmakers passed a decision allowing towns\u200c to\u2062 enforce bans on public camping, providing relief to local governments \u200btroubled by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dr-drews-nomination-to-los-angeles-homeless-commission-sparks-backlash-from-progressives\/\" title=\"Dr. Drew\u2019s Nomination To Los Angeles Homeless Commission Sparks Backlash From Progressives\">rising homeless population<\/a>. The Supreme Court, in\u200d a 6-3 ruling, overruled a prior verdict from the 9th\u2063 Circuit\u200d Court \u2063that had prevented such enforcement, \u200barguing it was a\u200b breach of the Eighth Amendment or &#8216;cruel\u200d and unusual \u2063punishment.&#8217; This\u2064 legal shift reinstates control to cities to decide how best to manage\u200c issues surrounding homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>Justice \u200bNeil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, stated\u2063 that while homelessness is complex \u200band\u2063 requires varied policy approaches, it&#8217;s not within \u2064the court&#8217;s mandate under the Eighth Amendment\u2063 to direct national homelessness policy or override\u200d decisions\u2063 made at the\u2062 local level. \u2062This reverses the 2022\u2062 judgment that\u200b sided with the homeless plaintiff, Gloria Johnson, based on the 2018 Martin v. Boise case, which she \u2064cited in \u200cher challenge\u2062 against Grants Pass, Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting, expressed a view that the decision neglected the\u2064 court&#8217;s\u2062 role in ensuring\u2064 the Constitution prohibits punishing individuals for being homeless, emphasizing\u200b that\u2063 sleep is a \u200cbiological need, not a criminal \u2062act.<\/p>\n<p>The legal turnaround is\u2062 predicted to impact local actions visibly, with some areas like rural Deschutes County in Oregon reporting a 28% surge in homelessness\u200c and \u200bincrease\u200d in\u200d crimes within homeless encampments such as\u200b drug trafficking and assaults since the earlier Martin v.\u200c Boise decision. Community leaders now feel better equipped to tackle these problems\u2064 without the constraints previously \u200bimposed \u2062by federal court interpretations of \u2062the Eighth Amendment.  <\/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<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Supreme Court ruled Friday that cities can enforce public camping bans, offering hope to communities that have been struggling with an explosion in homelessness for years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a 6-3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/supreme-court-homelessness-case-camping-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decision<\/a>, the court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu-wa.org\/story\/johnson-v-grants-pass-breakdown-case-supreme-court-and-what-it-could-mean-people-experiencing#:~:text=A%3A%20Martin%20v.,not%20enough%20shelter%20beds%20available.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overruled<\/a> <em>Grants Pass v. Johnson, <\/em>which<em> <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2022\/09\/28\/20-35752.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">barred<\/a> cities within the 9th Circuit from enforcing bans on public encampments, citing the Eighth Amendment. Cities now have the freedom to determine which policies work best to address homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it,&rdquo; Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-175_19m2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">opinion<\/a>. &ldquo;At bottom, the question this case presents is whether the Eighth Amendment grants federal judges primary responsibility for assessing those causes and devising those responses. It does not.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The case originated when homeless plaintiff Gloria Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu-wa.org\/story\/johnson-v-grants-pass-breakdown-case-supreme-court-and-what-it-could-mean-people-experiencing#:~:text=A%3A%20Martin%20v.,not%20enough%20shelter%20beds%20available.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sued<\/a> Grants Pass, Oregon, for its ban on public camping in 2018. The case relied on <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2018\/09\/04\/15-35845.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">precedent<\/a> from the 2018 case <em>Martin v. Boise<\/em> to claim Grants Pass was punishing the &ldquo;unavoidable consequences&rdquo; of homelessness, violating the Eighth Amendment&rsquo;s ban on &ldquo;cruel and unusual punishment.&rdquo; The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2022\/09\/28\/20-35752.pdf\">ruled<\/a> in 2022 on behalf of the plaintiff, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling with Friday&rsquo;s decision.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Constitution&rsquo;s Eighth Amendment serves many important functions, but it does not authorize federal judges to wrest those rights and responsibilities from the American people and in their place dictate this nation&rsquo;s homelessness policy,&rdquo; Gorsuch wrote. &ldquo;The judgment below is reversed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-175_19m2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dissent<\/a> that the Supreme Court was neglecting its supposed responsibility to care for the homeless, writing that &ldquo;sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This court, too, has a role to play in faithfully enforcing the Constitution to prohibit punishing the very existence of those without shelter,&rdquo; Sotomayor wrote. &ldquo;Because the court today abdicates that role, I respectfully dissent.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Consequences on the Ground<\/h2>\n<p>District Attorney Steve Gunnels of rural but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgw.com\/article\/news\/state\/central-oregon-dominates-states-fastest-growing-counties-bend-deschutes-crook-jefferson\/283-51468a05-bbbd-43f2-a678-89c78495dc8a#:~:text=Deschutes%20County%20saw%20the%20largest,increase%20of%20about%2010%2C262%20people.&amp;text=PORTLAND%2C%20Ore.,according%20to%20U.S.%20Census%20data.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fast-growing<\/a> Deschutes County previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/03\/the-only-hope-for-oregons-rampant-homelessness-is-undoing-radical-democrat-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> homelessness has <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/03\/the-only-hope-for-oregons-rampant-homelessness-is-undoing-radical-democrat-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">plagued<\/a> the area ever since <em>Martin v. Boise<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Homelessness in Central Oregon increased 28 percent from 2022 to 2023, and the number of encampments &mdash; and crime therein &mdash; has also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/03\/the-only-hope-for-oregons-rampant-homelessness-is-undoing-radical-democrat-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">increased<\/a>. Those crimes include drug trafficking, assault, and murder.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Many cities further report that, rather than help alleviate the homelessness crisis, <em>Martin<\/em> injunctions have inadvertently contributed to it. The numbers of &lsquo;[u]nsheltered homelessness&rsquo; they represent, have &lsquo;increased dramatically,&rsquo;&rdquo; Gorsuch wrote. &ldquo;Some city officials indicate that encampments facilitate the distribution of drugs like heroin and fentanyl, which have claimed the lives of so many Americans in recent years.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Gunnels said the Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling brings hope for improvement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was happy to read the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision in <em>Grants Pass v. Johnson<\/em> this morning,&rdquo; Gunnels told The Federalist. &ldquo;The decision will give states and local governments greater ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-supreme-court-urged-to-rule-on-controversial-homeless-camp-case\/\" title=\"Call for US Supreme Court to Decide Homeless Camp Dispute\">manage public spaces<\/a> in a way that improves public health and safety in our communities.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>To address homelessness, communities need the freedom to determine policies that best suit their needs. As Gorsuch noted, Grants Pass actually had a relatively permissive policy, telling police officers to protect the &ldquo;rights, dignity[,] and private property of the homeless&rdquo; while rendering them &ldquo;aid&rdquo; and &ldquo;support.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Not all cities may be this permissive, while some may be more. But communities having the ability to determine their own policy based on their own needs is an essential principle of federalism and one that may hold the key to reducing homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They may find certain responses more appropriate for some communities than others. But in our democracy, that is their right,&rdquo; Gorsuch wrote. &ldquo;Nor can a handful of federal judges begin to &lsquo;match&rsquo; the collective wisdom the American people possess.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Logan Washburn is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-clark-county-keeps-commercial-addresses-on-voter-rolls\/\" title=\"Lawsuit: Clark County Keeps Commercial Addresses On Voter Rolls\">staff writer covering election integrity<\/a>. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo&#8217;s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that cities can enforce bans on public camping, overturning the previous Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling. This decision, affecting the 9th Circuit, allows communities battling rising homelessness to prohibit public encampments, previously protected under the Eighth Amendment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":2286887,"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\/06\/49271754312_a258738833_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[5037,33456,4586,5782,6994],"class_list":["post-2286886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-cities","tag-encampment-bans","tag-homeless","tag-ruling","tag-scotus"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/49271754312_a258738833_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286886","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\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2286886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2286887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2286886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2286886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2286886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}