Supreme Court to weigh case over ticketing homeless encampments

The Supreme Court will weigh whether ticketing homeless encampments constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in a legal battle out of Oregon, the high court announced Friday.

The community of Grants Pass, Oregon had asked the Supreme Court to hear its case over ticketing homeless people living in public encampments, after a federal appeals court blocked the city from issuing the citations, saying it was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction halting Grants Pass, in southern Oregon, from issuing civil fines to homeless people camping on public land.

The appeals court reasoned the city ordinance’s ticketing scheme violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Lawyers for the city, though, told the high court it should review the case because a civil fine doesn’t amount to a painful punishment, and the lower court’s ruling is infringing on cities’ attempts to deal with the homeless crisis.

The ruling from the 9th Circuit is precedent for not just Grants Pass, but also for cities in eight other states within its jurisdiction: Montana, Washington, Idaho, California, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.

The city’s legal team also said conflicting rulings exist from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over similar civil ordinances.

The case is City of Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson and John Logan. It took four justices to vote in favor of reviewing the case.

No date for oral arguments has yet been set.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court ruled in 2018 that an anti-camping ordinance that criminalized homeless people for living on public land was unconstitutional unless the city had enough beds in shelters to provide for those living in the encampments.

The case against Grants Pass’ ordinance was originally brought by a group of homeless individuals.