West
US Supreme Court upholds controversial anti-camping laws used against homeless people in Oregon city
- The U.S. Supreme Court upheld anti-camping laws in Grants Pass, Oregon, allowing authorities to prevent homeless individuals from sleeping in public parks and streets.
- The court’s 6-3 decision reversed a lower court ruling that enforcing these laws without available shelter violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
- Grants Pass ordinances prohibit sleeping on public streets with blankets or bedding, imposing fines and possible jail time.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday anti-camping laws used by authorities in an Oregon city to stop homeless people from sleeping in public parks and public streets – a ruling that gives local and state governments a freer hand in confronting a national homelessness crisis.
The justices ruled 6-3 to overturn a lower court’s decision that found that enforcing the ordinances in the city of Grants Pass when no shelter space is available for the homeless violates the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on “cruel and unusual” punishments. Various jurisdictions employ similar laws.
The court’s conservative justices were in the majority, while its three liberal members dissented.
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Homelessness remains a complex problem for public officials in the United States as many municipalities experience chronic shortages of affordable housing. On any given night, more than 600,000 people are homeless, according to U.S. government estimates.
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC, on June 28, 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday anti-camping laws used by authorities in an Oregon city to stop homeless people from sleeping in public parks and public streets – a ruling that gives local and state governments a freer hand in confronting a national homelessness crisis. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The case focused on three ordinances in Grants Pass, a city of roughly 38,000 people in southwestern Oregon, that together prohibit sleeping in public streets, alleyways and parks while using a blanket or bedding. Violators are fined $295. Repeat offenders can be criminally prosecuted for trespass, punishable by up to 30 days in jail.
Advocates for the homeless, various liberal legal groups and other critics have said laws like these criminalize people simply for being homeless and for actions they cannot avoid, such as sleeping in public. They point to a 1962 Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment barred punishing individuals based on their status rather than their conduct.
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A point of contention during the Supreme Court’s arguments in the case in April was whether homelessness can be deemed a status that would prohibit enforcing local laws.
President Joe Biden’s administration agreed with the plaintiffs that Grants Pass cannot enforce an “absolute ban” on sleeping in the city – which effectively criminalizes homelessness – but suggested the rulings by the lower courts against the city were too broad and should be reconsidered.
Proponents, including various government officials, have called such laws a necessary tool for maintaining public safety.
The case, which began in 2018, involved three homeless people who filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the measures impacting them in Grants Pass. One of the plaintiffs has since died.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke ruled that the city’s “policy and practice of punishing homelessness” violates the Eighth Amendment and barred it from enforcing the anti-camping ordinances. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Clarke’s injunction against the ordinances.
The city had defended itself in the case in part by noting that homeless people have alternatives outside the city, including nearby undeveloped federal land, county campsites or state rest stops. The judge said that argument “sheds light on the city’s attitude towards its homeless citizens” by seeking to drive them out or punish them if they stay.
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San Francisco, CA
Court document details attack on SF mayor’s bodyguard as Lurie responds to incident
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — For the first time since the attack on San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s bodyguard, one of the suspects was in court on Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins filed charges against the man. Those charges include:
- Resisting an executive officer
- Assault with force to cause bodily injury
- Willful disobedience of a court order
- Unlawful lodging at the same location from a previous citation
Mayor Daniel Lurie said the incident won’t deter him from walking the streets of the city doing what he was doing moments before his bodyguard was attacked last week.
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Multiple angles covered a dramatic altercation between one of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s security detail and individuals on the street.
“I think I need to be able to see it myself and not just stay cloistered up and not be out of the streets. I walked the streets this morning and had some great interactions and was able to help some people,” said Mayor Lurie.
We obtained the detention motion, which revealed specific details about the incident.
The document said Mayor Lurie was riding in a car northbound on Larking Street with two of his security detail. The mayor asked the driver to stop and got out of the car with one of the officers to approach four people who were blocking the road; “two were sitting on the sidewalk… one was actually sitting in the street.” The document says one of the individuals “was aggressive” and “stepped towards the mayor,” after he asked them to move out of the road a few times. This led the bodyguard to position himself between the mayor and the individual. The document states the individual “got very close” to the officer and threatened him and said, “Bruce Lee I’ll kick your a**!”
The officer, according to the document, proceeded to shove the individual away from him “with both hands to defend himself and to create distance,” causing the individual to fall backwards on the sidewalk.
The individual quickly stood up and “rushed at the officer.”
Multiple people in the area captured the altercation on video.
We asked the mayor if he would do anything different in the future.
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“I’m not going to stop doing it. I will consult with our detail and our chief and make sure we can do this safely,” said Mayor Lurie.
San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said he is glad the mayor sees the crisis on the streets up close.
“A lot of people will cross the street to get away from it hide from it. We don’t want our city hiding from this problem,” said Supervisor Mandelman.
Kevin Benedicto, vice president of the San Francisco police commission, said they will be looking into the incident.
“A number of commissioners are going to want to ask the chief about updates about the incident just to make sure we have all the policies and procedures in place,” said Benedicto.
The Individual who attacked the mayor’s bodyguard has been charged in the past for criminal threats in 2019 and 2020.
One of the arraignments is set for Wednesday at 9 a.m.
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Denver, CO
Our dumpling challenge boils down to eight Denver metro restaurants
Like sand through the hourglass, so too go the dumplings of the Denver Post’s annual food bracket.
Our competition started with 32 restaurants chosen by editors and readers specializing in dumplings and momos, a Tibetan and Nepali variation, in the Denver area. Two weeks later, only eight restaurants remain.
The next round of matchups in our Elite 8 competition to be decided by reader votes are:
Rocky Mountain Momo (9678 E. Arapahoe Road, Englewood) vs. ChoLon (multiple locations)
LingLon Dumpling House (2456 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver) vs. Star Kitchen (2917 W. Mississippi Ave., Denver)
Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings (multiple locations) vs. Dillon’s Dumpling House (3571 S. Tower Road, Unit G, Aurora)
Hop Alley (3500 Larimer St., Denver) vs. Momo Dumplings (caterer; momo-dumplings.com)
The most recent matchups recorded more than 460 entries. Our most popular head-to-head was Rocky Mountain Momo facing off against Yuan Wonton. Rocky Mountain Momo advances with 55% of 260 votes.
MAKfam, a Chinese restaurant with a Michelin nod for its value, faced a tough first-round opponent, The Empress Seafood, and scraped out a win. But this time, it wasn’t as lucky, losing to ChoLon, an upscale Asian fusion restaurant with multiple locations, by only five votes.
Make your picks below for who should advance to the next round. The online voting form will close at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 15.
Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox.
Seattle, WA
Seattle goal overturned for goalie interference as Predators complete 4-2 comeback win
SEATTLE — Ryan Ufko scored his first NHL goal with 5:35 to play in the second period to put the Nashville Predators ahead to stay in a 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.
The rookie skated in from the right of the goal, dodged between two defenders, and tucked the puck past Seattle goalie Joey Daccord to give the Predators a 3-2 lead and two critical points in their chase for a wild-card playoff spot. Right now, the team is on the outside of the playoff picture.
Tyson Jost and Reid Schaefer also scored second-period goals to erase Seattle’s 2-0 first-period lead, and Steve Stamkos added an empty-netter for his 31st goal of the season.
Jonathan Marchessault had a pair of assists for Nashville, which had lost four of its previous five, and Juuse Saros made 43 saves.
Kaapo Kakko scored just 2:14 into the game, and Matty Beniers scored at 9:46 of the first period to give the Kraken a 2-0 lead. Beniers scored from a tough angle, firing from the bottom of the right circle and over the shoulder of Saros just inside the far post.
Daccord finished with 23 saves.
Seattle’s Shane Wright scored a goal in the second, but it was waved off because of goalie interference when Ryker Evans slid into Saros and took out his feet.
The Kraken were without left wing Jaden Schwartz, who was hit in the face by a skate during Seattle’s 7-4 loss to Ottawa on Saturday.
Kraken, clinging to a wild-card slot, have now lost five of their last seven games.
Up next
Predators: Visit Vancouver on Thursday night.
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Kraken: Host Colorado on Thursday night.
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