‘Where are they supposed to sleep?’: US supreme court appears divided on key homelessness case
by The Guardian
The Guardian— Justices consider constitutionality of punishing people for sleeping outside as western states seek to address encampmentsThe debate over how US cities can respond to America’s spiraling homelessness crisis reached the supreme court this week, as justices heard arguments over the constitutionality of local laws used against unhoused people sleeping outside.The justices on Monday considered a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping...
Bangor Daily News—Maine’s homeless advocates are closely following this key Supreme Court case. The Court will soon decide whether the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, enacted a “cruel and unusual” punishment when it fined and sometimes jailed hundreds of people sleeping outside.
Los Angeles Times—Supreme Court divided on homelessness case that will affect California encampment policy. Supreme Court justices sounded sharply split Monday over whether to give cities in the West more authority to restrict homeless encampments on sidewalks and other public property. The court's three liberals said they were wary of giving cities a broad and unchecked power to use arrests and fines to punish homeless people who are sleeping outside. "Sleeping is a biological necessity," Justice Elena Kagan said. It "seems like you are criminalizing the status of homelessness," she told a lawyer...
BBC News—Supreme Court confronts the US homelessness crisis. In a tense hearing, the justices weighed whether sleeping outdoors could be criminally punished.