Congresswoman Bush Leads Bicameral SCOTUS Amicus Brief to Oppose the Criminalization of Unhoused People
“As Congressional leaders, we have an obligation to protect the civil and constitutional rights of unhoused people to exist in public without fear of harassment, insurmountable fines, and even jail time,” says Bush
Washington, D.C. (Apr. 3, 2024) – Today, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) led 18 of her Democratic colleagues in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court ahead of the case of Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, in opposition to the threat of criminalizing unhoused people across the country.
In the bicameral amicus brief, Congresswoman Bush and her colleagues support the argument that the enforcement of public camping laws against involuntarily unhoused people violates the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The brief also details our sordid history with housing disinvestment that soared in the 1980s and continues to worsen today, as housing costs continue to set record highs. Finally, it describes the disproportionate negative impact the ruling may have on unhoused people who are Black and brown, youth, disabled, elderly, and/or LGBTQ+.
“Punishing poverty traps people in cycles of debt, unemployment, and hopelessness, increasing the likelihood someone will become chronically homeless, which makes the problem worse for everyone and therefore serves no legitimate penological purpose,” wrote the lawmakers. “While the members of Congress signing here agree that the political branches have at least partially failed homeless Americans by turning away from their historical role in ensuring broad access to affordable housing, this Court has never permitted a local government to inflict pain on its own innocent residents for the deliberate purpose of running them off and making them someone else’s burden. For the good of the people our Constitution protects, and for the health of the interstate relationships it governs, we undersigned lawmakers implore this Court to affirm the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”
The amicus brief can be read in full HERE.
With structural changes in the American economy — including the elimination of social safety net programs, stripping institutional resources for special needs service providers, and a decline in affordable housing for low-income people — Congresswoman Bush emphasizes that with a dramatic increase in homelessness in recent decades, government action is needed to invest meaningfully in housing aid and to ameliorate widespread homelessness.
The city of Grants Pass, Oregon, has a population of approximately 38,000 residents, and between 50 and 600 of its residents are without shelter on any given night. By design, the City of Grants Pass has no publicly accessible emergency housing options, so some of these vulnerable people have no choice but to sleep on public streets or in parks. Rather than helping its residents, Grants Pass codified a system of anti-sleeping, anti-camping, and park exclusion ordinances specifically designed to inflict escalating punishments that would be “uncomfortable enough” to force anyone without a home to leave the city entirely.
In September 2018, in a landmark case called Martin v. Boise, a federal appeals court with jurisdiction over Grants Pass ruled that the Eighth Amendment prohibits criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property against homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter. When Boise appealed that decision to the Supreme Court in 2019, the High Court declined the case. This lawsuit began as a class action under the Martin doctrine because while Grants Pass couched its ordinances in terms of “civil penalties,” they were criminal sanctions that resulted in carceral punishments on top of the underlying fines. The federal district and appellate courts reaffirmed Martin, holding once again that it is unconstitutional to punish unsheltered people with nowhere to go simply for existing.
Now, after a global pandemic and an unprecedented spike in housing costs made unsheltered homelessness so much more visible, SCOTUS accepted Grants Pass’ invitation to decide whether the Eighth Amendment provides any limitations on the criminal punishment of innocent human behavior. Oral arguments begin on April 22nd and a ruling is expected this summer.
This brief is signed by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D–MA) and Representatives Gwen Moore (WI-04), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), André Carson (IN-07), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Summer Lee (PA-12), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Linda Sanchez (CA-38), and Ro Khanna (CA-17).
This brief is endorsed by the National Homelessness Law Center, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Coalition for the Homeless, National Housing Law Project, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Southern Poverty Law Center, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Funders Together to End Homelessness, True Colors United, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and National Alliance to End Homelessness.
During her tenure in Congress, Congresswoman Bush has been a fierce advocate for affordable housing and the unhoused community.
- Last month, out of the $13.7 million Congresswoman Bush secured in this year's Community Project Funding, approximately $4.5 million went to various housing and housing-related projects across the district.
- In December 2023, Congresswoman Bush—in her capacity as Vice Chair of the Criminalization of Poverty on the Poverty Task Force and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness—led a member-level briefing educating members of Congress about how the federal government can decriminalize homelessness.
- In March 2023, Congresswoman Bush joined her fellow Co-Chairs to re-establish the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness—a caucus dedicated to educating members of Congress and their staff on the complex issues faced by unhoused persons.
- In July 2023, Congresswoman Bush reintroduced the Unhoused Bill of Rights, a resolution which declares unalienable rights for unhoused persons and provides solutions for the federal government to permanently end the crisis by 2027.
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