Homeless Encampments and the Constitution

The Supreme Court just ensured that the nation’s homelessness crisis will continue.

The court declined to take up an appeal of a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, covering the western United States, that homeless encampments are a de facto constitutional right.

In the case, stemming from a Boise, Idaho, ordinance, the 9th Circuit maintained that enforcing a prohibition against camping in public places is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

A quick reminder. The Eighth Amendment says, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive f...