• 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.

TRUST IN SUPREME COURT PLUNGES AHEAD OF KEY DECISIONS ON PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, JAN. 6

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 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.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON CHALLENGE TO BIDEN ADMIN’S EFFORT TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA

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.

Orlando Cepeda, the San Francisco Giants first baseman nicknamed “The Baby Bull,” died Friday in his home. He was 86.

“MLB mourns the passing of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda at the age of 86,” Major League Baseball tweeted. “Known as ‘Cha-Cha’ and ‘The Baby Bull,’ Cepeda slugged 379 home runs, batted .297, and made 11 All-Star teams over 17 seasons. He was unanimously selected as the NL Rookie of the Year in 1958 with the Giants. He was also a unanimous selection for the the NL MVP Award in 1967 when he helped lead the Cardinals to the World Series championship.”

Cepeda was the son of Puerto Rican baseball player Perucho Cepeda, who was not allowed to play in the major leagues because he was Black. Cepeda’s own career began after Pedro Zorilla convinced his family to send him to the United States to try out for the then-New York Giants. He passed the team’s tryout but was sent to the Salem Rebels.

The San Francisco Giants brought Cepeda onboard in 1958, and he closed out his first season as the National League Rookie of the Year. After spending a few more seasons with the Giants, Cepeda was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1966. Though he was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year after his first season, his performance suffered throughout the following two seasons and he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in 1969.

Cepeda retired from baseball in 1974. He was arrested at San Juan International Airport for drug possession the following year after he attempted to pick up two boxes containing marijuana that had been flown in from Colombia. Cepeda served 9 months of a 5 year sentence, but was never able to fully shed his criminal conviction.

Cepeda was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

The baseball great was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 17, 1937. Despite his father’s success in baseball, the family grew up “very poor,” he said in an interview. “My father [legendary player Pedro Cepeda]… was a great baseball player. In those days, a black player didn’t have a chance to play in the big leagues,” Cepeda explained. “So my dad used to go to Cuba, used to go to Dominican Republic, Venezuela… I think he went to Mexico one year.”

Cepeda’s survivors include his wife Nydia and 5 sons, Hector, Orlando Jr., Carl, Malcolm and Ali.

Dear Readers: Since announcing my departure from writing this syndicated column, I have heard from scores of people across various platforms, thanking me for more than two decades of offering advice and wishing me well in my “retirement.” I am very touched and grateful for this outpouring of support.

The thing is — I don’t think of myself as retiring.

I have led a constant, reliable life. I will read even the worst book to the last page. I have never voluntarily left a relationship, an obligation, or any employment.

(I can barely stand to leave a room!)

But I’m leaving this seven-day-a-week commitment — because I want to, and because it’s time.

My intention is to move on and to do other meaningful work.

Writing this column has given me a glimpse into thousands of lives.

The insight I have gained has inspired and empowered me to listen to my own counsel, to be authentic in my actions, and to — basically — be in charge of my own life, as much as possible.

Showing myself the door at this moment reflects the privilege of good health, strong relationships, years of steady employment, and some prudent financial choices. I’m very aware of how lucky I am.

My favorite way to envision this work is to picture families reading these columns together at the breakfast table and weighing in with their own points of view before reading mine.

And yes, there are still parents and grandparents out there who clip the newspaper and send pertinent columns to kids in college or summer camp, or tape it to refrigerators and bathroom mirrors.

I’ve heard from healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters and office workers who say they discuss the issues raised in the column in the break room.

I love knowing that, and I’ll miss having coffee with you.

The questions raised in this space have been used as teaching tools in middle schools, memory care units, ESL classes and prisons. These are perfect venues to discuss ethical, human-sized dilemmas.

On my last day communicating with you in this way, I feel compelled to try to sum up my experience by offering some lasting wisdom, but I’ve got no fresh insight. Everything I know has been distilled from wisdom gathered elsewhere.

Boxer Mike Tyson famously said, “Everybody has a plan, until they get punched ….” Punches are inevitable. But I do believe I’ve learned some universal truths that might soften the blows.

They are:

Show up for people.

Be gentle with yourself — and with others.

Lead with kindness, and recognize kindness when you receive it.

Reserve your harshest judgment. Sit on your worst thoughts about other people and consider the consequences before expressing them.

Be of service by finding something, or someone, to take care of.

Find creative ways to express your feelings.

Admit to your faults and failings, and resolve to do better.

Ask for forgiveness.

Work hard not to be defined by the worst things that have happened to you.

Recognize even the smallest blessings and express gratitude.

Be kind to receptionists, restaurant servers, dental hygienists, and anyone who needs to physically touch or serve you in order to do their job.

Understand that there are times when it is necessary to give up.

Spend time in nature.

Identify, develop, or explore your core ethical and/or spiritual beliefs.

Recognize and detach from your own need to control someone else.

Respect boundaries — yours and others’.

Seek the counsel of people who are wiser than you are. Ask their advice, and listen.

I sometimes supply “scripts” for people who have asked me for the right words to say, and so I thought I would boil these down to some of the most important statements I believe anyone can make.

They are:

I need help.

I’m sorry.

I forgive you.

I love you, just as you are.

I’m on your side.

You’re safe.

You are not alone.

Now that I’m near the end of my movie, I hope you’ll pay attention to the end credits.

Many thanks to Chicago friends and colleagues, including Jim Warren, who found me, Ann Marie Lipinski, who hired me, Steve Mandell, who represented me, and editors Mary Elson, Bill O’Connell and Carrie Williams. Thank you to “Gentleman Jack” Barry, who softened my exit.

And especially to Tracy Clark, a talented novelist who has helped to correct my faulty thinking and grammar for many years.

Finally, much gratitude to faithful readers, who can find me on social media and through my regular newsletter.

Onward!

(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)

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