Last week, the United States Supreme Court Ruled in a 6-3 decision that removing homeless people and imprisoning them for repeated violations of anti-camping laws does not constitute “cruel and unusual” punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
Many cities across the United States have been plagued by a growing homelessness crisis. The ruling from the nation’s highest court in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case could have vast implications for how localities grapple with the issue.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority opinion in the case, expressing sympathy for the homeless while acknowledging it was a complex issue. However, he maintained that laws against encampments were “commonplace” and that citing the Eighth Amendment was a “poor foundation” to argue against them.
SCOTUS blog wrote about the opinion, “Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch contended that the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment, “serves many important functions, but it does not authorize federal judges” to “dictate this Nation’s homelessness policy.” Instead, he suggested, such a task should fall to the American people.”
Justices Sonya Sotomayor led the dissenting opinion, along with Justices Elana Kagan and Kentanji Brown Jackson, arguing that the majority’s ruling “focuses almost exclusively on the needs of local government and leaves the most vulnerable in our society with an impossible choice: Either stay awake or be arrested.”
In the aftermath of the ruling, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized the decision, suggesting it would not improve the homelessness crisis many cities are contending with. According to 2023 data provided by USAFacts, Los Angeles City & County has the second largest homeless population in the country of over 71,000. This figure could likely be much higher when 2024 data is finalized.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail. Neither will work or save lives,” Bass wrote on X.
The mayor further argued that the SCOTUS ruling was “disappointing” but unsurprising to her given the conservative majority bench. Bass claimed it was not an “excuse” for cities to enforce anti-camping laws on their homeless population.
“Today’s decision is not surprising given the make-up of the Court but disappointing nonetheless. This ruling must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail. Neither will work, neither will save lives
and that route is more expensive for taxpayers than actually solving the problem. The only way to address this crisis is to bring people indoors with housing and supportive services. In the City of Los Angeles, we will continue leading with this approach, which helped move thousands more Angelenos inside last year than the year before. We cannot go backwards – we must continue innovating and moving with intention and urgency until every person experiencing homelessness is able to access housing, services and support,” according a statement from Bass.
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