Why Did the Supreme Court Allow Public Sleeping Bans?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that cities may enforce a ban on sleeping in public places. The 6-3 decision does not require cities to enforce the ban, but it allows for legal action to be used on those who violate cities’ laws.
For Context: The majority opinion was authored by conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and reversed a California ruling that found most such bans to be “cruel and unusual punishment” under the 8th Amendment. Additionally, the court ruled that disallowing homeless people to camp in public places is not unconstitutional, siding with the city of Grants Pass, Oreg. in Grants Pass v. Johnson.
How the Media Covered It: News coverage on the right mainly reflected support for the ruling, and coverage on the left mainly highlighted opposition. However, opinions from sources across the political spectrum were widely in support of helping homeless communities in one way or another. Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) states, “These laws serve an essential function in maintaining basic order… If [homeless people] are unwell, these interventions also connect them with other resources they need.” The Seattle Times (Center bias) referred to the case as an “opportunity to further punish the most vulnerable people in our community for their struggles with poverty, their mental illness and behavioral health conditions.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Supreme Court rightly lets communities choose how to respond to homelessness
The Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson will save lives by allowing local governments and law enforcement agencies to determine how best to respond to homelessness in their own communities. In many cases, that will mean intervening in homeless encampments that are dangerous both to the people living in them and nearby communities.
The overreach of the federal court system into local homeless policy over the last six years has proven disastrous in the Western United States. Encampments have been allowed to grow while state and local governments have been left...
From the Center
Supreme Court’s homelessness ruling punishes the most vulnerable
On Friday, the United States Supreme Court found that it is constitutional to jail people simply because they are homeless. Their decision, in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, clears the way for cities across the country to treat unhoused people cruelly because they cannot afford a place to stay.
Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, whose office submitted briefing in the case in support of the Court’s decision, has embraced this opportunity to further punish the most vulnerable people in our community for their struggles with poverty, their mental illness and...
From the Left
When Is Sleeping a Crime? If You’re Homeless, Says the Supreme Court
In a defeat for advocates of the unhoused, the US Supreme Court has rejected the argument that it is cruel and unusual punishment to outlaw sleeping outdoors in urban spaces. The 6-3 decision broke down along ideological lines, with the conservatives refusing to apply the Eighth Amendment to prohibit cities from trying to keep homeless people from sleeping in the streets, and the liberals in dissent arguing that “sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime” and that outlawing it unconstitutionally criminalizes the status of being homeless.
The outcome is...
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