Does the new SCOTUS ruling on sleeping in public impact the Phoenix DOJ report?
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing cities to enforce bans on people sleeping outside in public spaces could have big implications for the Department of Justice’s investigation of the Phoenix Police.
The recent ruling from the nation’s high court allows Phoenix to enforce a ban on camping and sleeping in public.
This came just a few weeks after the Department of Justice slammed the Phoenix Police Department for its treatment of unsheltered people, claiming officers violated their civil rights.
“That element of the Department of Justice Report as it relates to Phoenix and the way they have arrested homeless persons in Phoenix basically gets wiped out by the Supreme Court opinion,” said Robert McWhirter, a constitutional law expert.
The DOJ claimed it was a violation of the Eighth Amendment to arrest people for merely sleeping in public when they had nowhere else to go, citing cruel and unusual punishment.
McWhirter said that the statute was established in 2019 in Martin v. Boise.
The key argument in that case was that criminalizing sleeping in public targeted someone for their “status” as being homeless.
Now, the nation’s highest court overturned it, which means arresting someone for sleeping in public does not criminalize someone’s status but their conduct.
However, McWhirter says there are still other claims in the DOJ report about the way Phoenix police officers allegedly treat homeless people that remain unconstitutional.
“[Such as] arresting them without probable cause, stealing their property, taking their property,” McWhirter said.
The city of Phoenix responded to the SCOTUS decision with a statement.
The Phoenix City Council unanimously passed a new law leading to fines for anyone camping within 500 feet of parks, shelters schools, and day cares.
It goes into effect in September.
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