WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled today that cities can punish unhoused people for sleeping in public, even if they have nowhere else to go. This decision goes against longstanding Supreme Court precedent that it is cruel and unusual to criminalize a person’s status.
The case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, originated from an Oregon city that passed ordinances barring people from sleeping outside in public using a blanket, pillow, or even a cardboard sheet to lie on. In Grants Pass, Oregon, unhoused people could be saddled with hundreds of dollars in fines and even jail time for sleeping outside, even though the city lacked enough shelter beds.
“The Supreme Court's ruling ignores decades of precedent protecting Kentuckians from the cruel and unusual punishment of criminalizing homelessness,” said ACLU of Kentucky Legal Fellow Kevin Meunch. “Homelessness can happen to anyone, and we are disappointed the Court has taken the extraordinary step of ignoring precedent to support punishing unhoused people simply for existing.”
The ACLU and the ACLU of Kentucky submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that punishing unhoused people for sleeping outside when they lack access to shelter violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. As the brief highlights, the original intent and meaning of the Eighth Amendment and its application in more than a century of Supreme Court cases make clear that the government cannot punish people in ways that are disproportionate to the crime.
The brief goes on to argue that Robinson v. California, which ruled that criminalizing a person’s status is cruel and unusual punishment and was relied upon by the lower courts in Johnson v. Grants Pass, is consistent with this proportionality principle. Applying the same proportionality principle, the brief stated, punishing unhoused people for sleeping in public when they have no other choice violates the Eighth Amendment.
The Court’s decision ignores our argument and reverses a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that punishing unhoused people for sleeping in public when they have no access to shelter violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky is freedom's watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislature and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms. For additional information, visit our website at: www.aclu-ky.org.