June 28, 2024
Supreme Court limits homeless camping protections
Grants Pass ruling allows cities to criminalize sleeping outside
📜Constitutional Law🎓Education
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 28, 2024, that cities can enforce blanket camping bans even when no shelter beds are available. 
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the conservative majority.
The decision overturned Martin v. Boise (2019), a Ninth Circuit ruling that prohibited cities from enforcing anti-camping ordinances against homeless individuals without access to alternative shelter.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson. She called the ordinances "unconscionable and unconstitutional" and took the rare step of reading her dissent from the bench.
Grants Pass, Oregon (population under 40,000) has approximately 500-600 homeless residents but no public homeless shelters—only a small private religious shelter that was never more than 60% full.
The city's camping ban imposed escalating penalties: first a $295 fine, then temporary bans from public property, and eventually short jail terms for repeat violations.
Within six months of the ruling, at least 50 cities and three counties in California passed new ordinances targeting homeless encampments.
San Francisco's arrests and citations for illegal lodging increased 500%—from 71 in the six months before the ruling to 427 in the six months after. Los Angeles saw a 68% increase despite Mayor 
Karen Bass opposing the decision.
Stockton, California issued just 14 homelessness-related citations in the six months before Grants Pass but 213 in the six months after—a 1,421% increase.
The Court held that the ordinances regulate conduct (camping, sleeping outside) rather than criminalizing the status of homelessness, distinguishing it from Robinson v. California (1962), which banned criminalizing addiction status.
More than 1,000 organizations led by the National Homelessness Law Center filed over 40 amicus briefs opposing the camping bans. California Governor Gavin Newsom and mayors from numerous Western cities filed briefs supporting Grants Pass.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who monitors transparency issues, noted the decision had no enforcement mechanism for cities that lack adequate shelter capacity under state law.
📜Constitutional Law🎓Education
People, bills, and sources
Justice Neil Gorsuch
Supreme Court Associate Justice (authored majority opinion)
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Supreme Court Associate Justice (authored dissent)
London Breed
Mayor of San Francisco (at time of ruling)
Karen Bass
Mayor of Los Angeles
Governor Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
National Homelessness Law Center
Advocacy organization (lead counsel for homeless residents)
Judge Sarah McGlaughlin
Josephine County Circuit Court Judge
City of Grants Pass
Oregon municipality (petitioner)
What you can do
1
civic action
Track local camping ban proposals
Monitor your city council's agenda for anti-camping ordinances and attend public comment sessions to advocate for shelter-first policies before enforcement.
info@nlc.org
2
civic action
Support organizations providing direct services
Donate to or volunteer with local homeless services organizations that provide meals, medical care, and housing navigation—services that address root causes rather than criminalization.
info@endhomelessness.org
3
understanding
Understand the Eighth Amendment's limits
Learn how Robinson v. California (1962) distinguished status crimes from conduct crimes, and why courts now apply this narrowly. This helps you spot when criminalization crosses constitutional lines.
info@theusconstitution.org
4
civic action
Contact your state legislators about shelter capacity requirements
Urge your state representatives to pass laws requiring adequate shelter before camping ban enforcement—Oregon still has this protection despite the Supreme Court ruling.
info@ncsl.org
Hello, my name is [NAME] and I'm a constituent in [DISTRICT]. I'm calling about the Supreme Court's Grants Pass decision that allows cities to enforce camping bans even without shelter. I urge you to introduce legislation requiring cities to provide adequate shelter capacity before enforcing anti-camping ordinances. Oregon law still has this protection—our state should too. Can I count on your support?