Cities are asking the Supreme Court for more power to clear homeless encampments

Photo caption: A homeless encampment near a Target store in Los Angeles, California. State and local lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, are seeking to overturn lower court decisions that currently block their power to clear encampments with unhoused people. Photo credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images. Article by Rachel M. Cohen. Vox – October 10, 2023.

In 2018, a federal court issued a consequential decision about homelessness in America: People without housing can’t be punished for sleeping or camping outside on public property if there are no adequate shelter alternatives available. The Ninth Circuit’s decision, Martin v. Boise, said that punishing homeless people with no other place to go would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Ever since, cities and states have struggled to comply with it, […]

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