What the Grants Pass Ruling Actually Did
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities may fine and jail people for sleeping outside in public, even when no shelter is available. The decision upheld ordinances in Grants Pass, Oregon, that prohibit using blankets, pillows, or cardboard boxes for protection while sleeping within city limits. First-time violators face a $295 fine. Repeat violators can receive a criminal trespass charge carrying up to 30 days in jail and a $1,250 fine.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment does not block cities from criminalizing camping, because such laws target conduct rather than status—being homeless. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson: "For people with no access to shelter, that punishes them for being homeless. That is unconscionable and unconstitutional."
The system at work is the carceral response to poverty.
The ruling did not create new law. It removed a barrier that had prevented cities from enforcing camping bans when shelter beds were full. Since the decision, cities across the country have introduced over 320 bills criminalizing unhoused people; nearly 220 have passed. That is the mechanism: local governments now operate with confirmed legal authority to police the absence of housing rather than provide it.
The real-world harm is gender-specific and structural.
Fifty-seven percent of unhoused women report domestic violence as the immediate cause of their homelessness. In a 2024 survey of 150 women in Pacific Northwest shelters, 67 percent said domestic violence caused their homelessness at some point in their lives, and 49 percent said it caused their current situation.
This is not incidental. Domestic abusers deliberately sabotage their victims' housing stability—calling police on them, reporting false information to housing authorities, destroying credit and rental histories—to force them onto the street, knowing homelessness increases the likelihood the victim will return. The Grants Pass ruling gives abusers a new, court-sanctioned weapon: the threat of fines and jail time for sleeping outside, which they can trigger by reporting their victims to police.
For survivors with children, the cascade of harm includes child welfare investigations. A criminal record for camping can preclude housing that would meet custody standards. Many survivors return to abusers because that is the only way to demonstrate stable housing to the state. The ruling did not create this dynamic. It deepened it.
Since the decision, shelters in Oregon remain full. In Multnomah County, less than 7.6 percent of shelter beds serve women, though women account for at least 31 percent of the unhoused population—a figure experts call low because women hide for protection. There is no evidence the ruling has moved anyone into housing. There is evidence it has moved cities toward more arrests.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a person fleeing violence may be fined for sleeping, jailed for sleeping, and charged with trespass for sleeping—and that this is not cruel, not unusual, and not a violation of the Constitution.
She doesn't chase trends. She channels truth.
RAINN: 1-800-656-4673 · Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 · National DV Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
