Supreme Court upholds Oregon city’s camping ban

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 6-3 that the city of Grants Pass, Ore., could enforce a law preventing sleeping outdoors on public property against homeless people. The court found that the law applied to everyone, not just homeless people, so it did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eight Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

What are the details of this case? Several people sued Grants Pass alleging that the law punished them for being involuntarily homeless. The city argued that it was not penalizing anyone for being homeless since the law applied to everyone and applied to their actions instead of their residential status.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about the court hearing arguments in this case earlier this year.