Supreme Court Update: City of Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson

Supreme Court Update:  City of Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson

COUNTY NEXUS

If upheld, Grants Pass would divert complex, highly localized policy decisions about how to respond to homelessness from the county legislature to the federal courts, with substantial financial implications for local governments and perverse incentives to invest public resources on temporary shelter beds rather than more permanent solutions.

BACKGROUND

Over the last few years, courts have significantly narrowed the permissible scope of local regulation of public camping. The catalyst for this shift was Martin v. City of Boise, a 2018 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that prohibits encampment ordinances when applied to homeless or unsheltered individuals when a local government lacks adequate emergency public shelter beds. However, the court left open the question of whether any regulation of the location or scope of public camping can be constitutional. In a subsequent case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the constitutionality of an anti-encampment ordinance in Grants Pass, Oregon, in a decision that appeared to expand Martin. Now, the Court will reexamine that ruling.

CURRENT STATUS

Argument scheduled for April 22, 2024.

NACo ADVOCACY

Read the Local Government Legal Center Amicus Brief submitted in support of the petitioner.