Nancy Rimmer

November 18, 2024 | The Legal Intelligencer

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which upheld laws in the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, that prohibit people from sleeping outside on public property even when there are no available shelter beds. This disappointing and harmful decision allows cities to enforce civil and criminal penalties against individuals who have no choice but to sleep outside, despite the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, the court’s ruling abandoned “its role in safeguarding constitutional liberties for the most vulnerable among us” by allowing the enforcement of laws that criminalize the status of being homeless.

By Nancy Rimmer

3 minute read