The supreme court began a case considering whether cities can punish people experiencing homelessness for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go. articles
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Supreme Court weighs whether cities can punish unhoused people for sleeping outside
Lower courts ruled it's "cruel and unusual" to fine or jail people on public land if no shelter is available. An Oregon city says that's hamstrung efforts to keep public spaces safe and open to all.
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Supreme Court to consider whether cities can ticket homeless people
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Monday over a challenge to a law letting cities fine homeless people, potentially radically changing the lives of the hundreds of thousands without homes. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that cities cannot ticket homeless people for camping in public when there were no alternative
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Supreme Court to debate whether cities can punish people who are homeless
When Helen Cruz pitched her tent in a city park a few years ago and made it her home, she chose the location for one reason: She wanted to be close to the houses she cleans for a living but could never afford for herself. “People see the irony of it,” said Cruz, 49. “I never looked at it like that.” What Cruz didn’t realize then was that living in a park in Grants Pass, Oregon, would place her in the middle of a national debate that will reach the Supreme Court on Monday about whether cities can...