In collaboration with co-counsel at the Oregon Law Center and the Oregon Justice Resource Center, ICAP represented the homeless residents of Grants Pass, Oregon, in a constitutional challenge to a set of ordinances that punished homeless people for sleeping or resting anywhere on public property at any time with so much as a blanket to survive the cold, regardless of whether they have anywhere else to go. The ordinances made it physically impossible for a homeless person who does not have access to shelter to remain in Grants Pass without facing endless fines and jail time. The Ninth Circuit held that the ordinances violated the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause by inflicting punishment on the City’s homeless residents for simply existing in the community without access to shelter. In June 2024, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s decision on the ground that the punishment inflicted on the homeless residents was not cruel and unusual under the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment.
