An Oregon judge has temporarily blocked a city from enforcing its public camping policies after the city prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed municipalities to enforce homeless camping bans.
The new judicial action comes after the Supreme Court upheld a local ordinance banning public camping, which activists claimed criminalized being homeless. In a 6–3 ruling in June 2024, the high court rejected the novel argument that the local law in Grants Pass, Oregon, violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. With a population of 39,000, Grants Pass is in southwest Oregon near the California border.
The new court order came after Portland-based Disability Rights Oregon and five disabled homeless individuals sued Grants Pass in state court on Jan. 30 over the city’s restrictions on camping in public spaces….