Supreme Court divided on homelessness case that will impact California encampment policy

It was not clear there was a solid majority to overturn the 9th Circuit entirely; some justices appeared to favor a middle-ground approach.

That would allow cities to regulate where people can sleep outside, but it would not prohibit camping or sleeping throughout the city.

Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Ed Kneedler urged the court to adopt that approach. While cities should not make it a crime for homeless people to sleep outdoors, cities should have “flexibility to enforce” reasonable restrictions on where homeless people can sleep, he said.

Many cities in California, including Los Angeles, generally follow that approach. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also advocated “reasonable limits on public camping.”

Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett may hold the deciding votes. Both questioned laws that would punish homeless people for sleeping outdoors.

“How does this law help?” he asked. “You end up in jail for 30 days, then you get out, I mean, you’re not going to be any better off than you were before in finding a bed if there aren’t any available.”

The attorney for Grants Pass explained the difficulty of finding shelter for some of the other homeless people. She said Gloria Johnson, the lead plaintiff, refused to stay at the Gospel Rescue Mission because her dog could not stay there as well.

In their later questions, both Kavanaugh and Barrett said they doubted the wisdom of having federal judges “micromanage” a city’s policies for coping with homelessness.

The case of Grants Pass v. Johnson is the most important dispute over homelessness to come before the high court.

At issue is whether the Constitution protects the rights of homeless people who camp on sidewalks or in parks.

Advocates on both sides said their opponents were arguing an extreme position.

Lawyers who sued on behalf of three homeless people said Grants Pass was seeking to “banish” from the city poor people who were homeless. They said one city ordinance made it a crime to sleep on the sidewalk with a blanket. Moreover, the city offered little or no shelter for the homeless, they said.

Meanwhile, city officials said they had been denied the authority to enforce common ordinances that forbid camping or sleeping in sidewalks or parks.

Since 2018, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit has held it is cruel and unusual punishment for cities or their police to arrest or fine people who sleep in public because they have nowhere else to go.

City attorneys say those rulings have led to the growth of homeless encampments in California and the West, and they urged the justices to overturn the 9th Circuit. They hope for a ruling that would clarify the scope of the city’s enforcement authority.

Advocates for homeless people said they feared a ruling in favor of Grants Pass would allow cities to make it a crime for poor people to sleep outside.

The justices will meet behind close doors Thursday to vote on how to decide the case, and they are likely to hand down a ruling in late June.