Current:Home > Contact-usThe Supreme Court will decide whether local anti-homeless laws are ‘cruel and unusual’-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
The Supreme Court will decide whether local anti-homeless laws are ‘cruel and unusual’
View Date:2024-12-23 19:05:59
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review lower-court rulings that make it harder for cities in the western United States to prevent people from sleeping on the streets when there aren’t enough beds in homeless shelters.
The justices will hear an appeal from the city of Grants Pass, in southwest Oregon, that has the backing of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, as well as other Democratic and Republican elected officials who have struggled to deal with homelessness brought on by rising housing costs and income inequality.
The court’s action comes a day after a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court ruling blocking anti-camping ordinances in San Francisco, where Newsom once was the mayor.
A separate 9th circuit panel ruled in the Oregon case that Grants Pass could not enforce local ordinances that prohibit homeless people “from using a blanket, pillow, or cardboard box for protection from the elements.” The decision applies across nine western states, Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The two rulings, like a 2018 decision from the 9th circuit in a case from Boise, Idaho, found that punishing people for sleeping on the streets when no alternative shelter is available amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Constitution.
Elected officials urged the justices to take up the case because they say the rulings complicate their efforts to clear tent encampments, which have long existed in West Coast cities, but have more recently become more common across the U.S. The federal count of homeless people reached 580,000 last year, driven by a lack of affordable housing, a pandemic that economically wrecked households, and a lack of access to mental health and addiction treatment.
Homeless people and their advocates say the sweeps are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money. They say the answer is more housing, not crackdowns.
Cities from Los Angeles to New York have stepped up efforts to clear encampments, records reviewed by The Associated Press show, as public pressure grew to address what some residents say are dangerous and unsanitary living conditions. But despite tens of millions of dollars spent in recent years, there appears to be little reduction in the number of tents propped up on sidewalks, in parks and by freeway off-ramps.
It’s unclear whether the case will be argued in the spring or the fall.
veryGood! (8842)
Related
- He failed as a service dog. But that didn't stop him from joining the police force
- Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik in discussions to meet with special counsel
- Man arrested 2 months after fight killed Maryland father in front of his home
- The cost of a dollar in Ukraine
- Congress heard more testimony about UFOs: Here are the biggest revelations
- Las Vegas police seize computers, photographs from home in connection with Tupac's murder
- Jobs and Technology Take Center Stage at Friday’s Summit, With Biden Pitching Climate Action as a Boon for the Economy
- Sophia Culpo’s Ex Braxton Berrios Responds to Cheating Allegations
- Lou Donaldson, jazz saxophonist who blended many influences, dead at 98
- Sarah Jessica Parker Reveals Why Carrie Bradshaw Doesn't Get Manicures
Ranking
- Former West Virginia jail officer pleads guilty to civil rights violation in fatal assault on inmate
- Oklahoma executes man who stabbed Tulsa woman to death after escaping from prison work center in 1995
- 11 horses die in barbaric roundup in Nevada caught on video, showing animals with broken necks
- Elvis Presley’s Stepbrother Apologizes for “Derogatory” Allegations About Singer
- Horoscopes Today, November 9, 2024
- The Hollywood x Sugarfina Limited-Edition Candy Collection Will Inspire You To Take a Bite Out of Summer
- From searing heat's climbing death toll to storms' raging floodwaters, extreme summer weather not letting up
- You won the lottery or inherited a fortune. Now what?
Recommendation
-
Trump on Day 1: Begin deportation push, pardon Jan. 6 rioters and make his criminal cases vanish
-
Anheuser-Busch CEO Addresses Bud Light Controversy Over Dylan Mulvaney
-
New Report Expects Global Emissions of Carbon Dioxide to Rebound to Pre-Pandemic High This Year
-
Jack Daniel's v. poop-themed dog toy in a trademark case at the Supreme Court
-
Jana Duggar Reveals She's Adjusting to City Life Amid Move Away From Farm
-
Inside Clean Energy: Indian Point Nuclear Plant Reaches a Contentious End
-
Who are the Hunter Biden IRS whistleblowers? Joseph Ziegler, Gary Shapley testify at investigation hearings
-
Biden Is Losing His Base on Climate Change, a New Pew Poll Finds. Six in 10 Democrats Don’t Feel He’s Doing Enough