The Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 3 in favor of communities in the Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson circumstance, which sounds like one of the strangest circumstances ever. In the case, the question was asked:” Does the protection of frequently applicable laws regulating traveling on public house constitute the” cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment?
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In the project’s life talk, Amy Howe’s brief summary states that” the jury holds that the enforcement of usually relevant laws regulating camping on public house does not form” cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
The town of Grants Pass issued a fine for poor people who were sleeping in blankets and pillows in open spaces of the city or residing in cardboard boxes. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a similar law in Boise, Idaho, violated the Eighth Amendment’s restrictions on cruel and unusual punishment. The case against the town drew on Robinson v. California from 1962, which prohibited states and localities from defining drug addiction as a murder on its own without an addict committing other crimes.
The town argued at SCOTUSblog that the ordinances only prohibit anyone from trekking on public property, while the opponents claimed that the laws successfully make it illegal to be poor in the city and that they go against the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The issue of” traveling bans”, which are common in cities across the country, divided judges during oral claims. The conservative judges posed more in-depth inquiries while the liberal justices were more friendly to the situation of the poor.
Howe wrote:
Justice Clarence Thomas emphasized that the Robinson case prohibited both drug usage and drug addiction. Would the city’s regulations, Thomas asked, make it a murder to be poor?
They do not ,]Theane ] Evangelis]the attorney representing the city ] responded.
However, other judges made the suggestion that it was more challenging to define the distinction between conduct and position, which can be punished for under Robinson. Chief Justice John Roberts, for instance, seemed to indicate that because someone who is poor can quickly be” not homeless”, poverty is not a position.
Justice Samuel Alito argued that although” position is different from conduct,… there are some instances of conduct that are closely related to status or if homelessness is defined as just lacking a place to stay in a certain night, they amount to the same thing.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned [ Kelsi Brown ] Corkran, the attorney representing the homeless people, whether it would be unlawful for the city to enact laws in other situations involving basic human needs, such as using the restroom and eating. If someone steals food, urinates, or defecates in people, was the city fine them or have them arrested?
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Justice Elena Kagan came to the conclusion that the situation “posed a very difficult policy issue for all communities.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch cited Robinson‘s statement in his mind as “expressly recognized the’large power’ that states have over the substance of their legal laws.” He continued, noting that these traveling regulations “are nothing compared to the Robinson legislation at issue.”
In a similar judgment, Thomas also cited Robinson, alleging that the court wrong decided that case. In her opposition, Justice Sonia Sotomayor held that camping rules punish individuals for being poor, so they violate the Eighth Amendment.
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