They say the 9th Circuit’s “mistaken view of the 8th Amendment logically would immunize numerous other purportedly involuntary acts from prosecution, such as drug use by addicts, public intoxication by alcoholics, and possession of child pornography by pedophiles.”

What’s at stake, they argue, is “the fundamental police power that all states possess to preserve public sidewalks, parks, school grounds, and other spaces for the use and enjoyment of the general public, free from obstruction, harassment, and inconvenience.”

They say that since the 9th Circuit’s rulings on the issue, “encampments have multiplied unchecked throughout the West ... resulting in spikes in violent crime, drug overdoses, disease, fires, and hazardous waste. The city does not ask this court to create any new authority, but only to restore standard tools that governments routinely use across the rest of the country to preserve public spaces for the entire community.”

What do advocates for homeless people say?

They say that Grants Pass officials are exaggerating the impact of one ruling on the small city in southern Oregon.

“This was a unique situation. People were being awakened and threatened by the police,” said Ed Johnson of the Oregon Law Center, which sued Grants Pass. “This was a deliberate effort to banish people from the city. It’s really an outlier.”

He said the city’s ordinance defined camping broadly to include the use of bedding or a sleeping bag anywhere in the city.

Their brief to the Supreme Court emphasizes what they say is the “cruelty” of such a rule.

“It is difficult to imagine a more blameless offense than resting outside with a blanket to survive the cold when you have nowhere else to go,” the advocates said.

“The sole question before the court is whether the cruel and unusual punishments clause permits the city to inflict punishment on homeless people for resting or sleeping with a blanket anywhere in public at any time when they have nowhere else to go — in other words, for their continued physical existence in the community. The answer is no,” they wrote.

Will this case make it easier for California cities to deal with homelessness?

Maybe, if the cities win.

If the Supreme Court reverses the 9th Circuit, its decision could free city officials and their police to remove homeless encampments from sidewalks, parks or other public areas.

But in many cities, including Los Angeles, elected officials have said they are not in favor of aggressive or heavy-handed use of the police. They prefer policies that forbid encampments in certain sensitive locations and that encourage homeless people to accept offers of shelter.

Many city officials say they hope that whatever the Supreme Court decides, it provides more legal clarity and enforcement flexibility.

They say the 9th Circuit’s broad but unclear decisions have spawned a parade of class-action lawsuits, including conflicting claims on the same issue. Cities say they have been sued for doing too much or not enough to to address the problem of homelessness.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said that L.A. “needs to have the flexibility to provide solutions on an individual by individual or an encampment by encampment basis unhindered by one-size-fits-all class action litigation.”

She closed by urging the court to “provide a clear ruling with well-defined parameters and application, and not a generalized abstraction that simply invites endless new rounds of litigation and further diverts resources from this important problem.”

What do advocates for homeless people say are the stakes in this case?

They say the underlying problem is a lack of affordable housing.

“Homelessness is not a choice. It is a socially constructed status resulting from policy decisions. Yet rather than eradicating homelessness, governments try to eradicate homeless people,” the Western Regional Advocacy Project said in its friend-of-the court brief.

“Criminalizing homelessness not only fails to address systemic causes of mass homelessness, it also exacerbates underlying structures of oppression and drains communities of capacity to build toward better futures,” the brief said.

Advocates worry that a ruling in favor of Grants Pass will lead to more law enforcement and less effort to provide shelter to those who need it.

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