The Court’s Ruling:
The Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the United States Constitution does not prohibit the enactment or the enforcement of laws that authorize the punishment of people who sleep on publicly owned land, not even of people who have no choice in doing so, i.e., homeless people.
By a 6-3 vote, the Court based this ruling on its interpretation of the following language in the United States Constitution:
[C]ruel and unusual punishments [shall not be] inflicted.
U.S. Const., Amendment VIII (bracketed explanations added).
In their dissent, Justices Kagen, Sotomayor, and Jackson argued that prohibitions against sleeping on publicly owned land were inhumane and unjustifiable in cases against people who had no choice but to sleep on public property, i.e., homeless people.
RECENT RULINGS 