Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, August 06, 2024
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER AN UPDATE REGARDING ENFORCEABILITY OF CITY MUNICIPAL CODE RESTRICTIONS AGAINST CAMPING ON PUBLIC PROPERTY IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION IN CITY OF GRANTS PASS, OREGON V. JOHNSON (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
This report transmits an update to the City Council, with great news for the City of Carson.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, 144 S. Ct. 2202 (2024). The Court held that the enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property does not constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court decision abrogated the prior decision of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Martin v. City of Boise, 920 F.3d 584 (2019), which had held that criminal enforcement of such ordinances as to homeless individuals violated the Eighth Amendment any time there was a greater number of homeless individuals in the jurisdiction than the number of available beds in shelters.
To be clear, the Martin v. City of Boise decision and its available beds requirement is no longer valid law due to the Supreme Court's decision in Grants Pass.
The City Attorney's office, on behalf of several cities, submitted an amicus curiae brief to the the Supreme Court in the Grants Pass case. An amicus curiae brief, or amicus brief, is a legal document submitted by a person or group who is not a party to a case but has a strong interest in the matter. The term amicus curiae is Latin for "friend of the court."
The amicus brief submitted by the City Attorney's office successfully advocated for the outcome that was ultimately reached by the Supreme Court in siding with the City of Grants Pass.
Despite the Martin v. Boise decision of the Ninth Circuit in 2019, the Mayor and City Council maintained Carson's ordinances proh...
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