Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf
Page Number: 58.0

14 

CITY OF GRANTS PASS v. JOHNSON 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

[homeless people] in our city so they will want to move on 
down the road.’ ”  Id., at 114.3 

One action item from this meeting was the “ ‘targeted en-
forcement  of  illegal  camping’ ”  against  homeless  people. 
App. to Pet. for Cert. 169a.  “The year following the [public
meeting]  saw  a  significant  increase  in  enforcement  of  the 
City’s  anti-sleeping  and  anti-camping  ordinances.    From 
2013 through 2018, the City issued a steady stream of tick-
ets under the ordinances.”  72 F. 4th, at 876–877. 

B 

Next  consider  the  text.    The  Ordinances  by  their  terms 
single out homeless people.  They define “campsite” as “any 
place where bedding, sleeping bag, or other material used
for  bedding  purposes”  is  placed  “for  the  purpose  of  main-
taining a temporary place to live.”  §5.61.010.  The majority
claims that it “makes no difference whether the charged de-
fendant is homeless.”  Ante, at 20.  Yet the Ordinances do 
not apply unless bedding is placed to maintain a temporary 
place  to  live.  Thus,  “what  separates  prohibited  conduct
from permissible conduct is a person’s intent to ‘live’ in pub-
lic spaces.  Infants napping in strollers, Sunday afternoon 
picnickers, and nighttime stargazers may all engage in the 
same  conduct  of  bringing  blankets  to  public  spaces  [and
sleeping],  but  they  are  exempt  from  punishment  because
they have a separate ‘place to live’ to which they presuma-

—————— 

3 The majority does not contest that the Ordinances, as enforced, are 
intended  to  target  homeless  people.    The  majority  observes,  however, 
that  the  council  also  discussed  other  ways  to  handle  homelessness  in 
Grants Pass.  See ante, at 12, n. 1.  That is true.  Targeted enforcement
of the Ordinances to criminalize homelessness was only one solution dis-
cussed at the meeting.  See App. 131–132 (listing “[a]ctions to move for-
ward,” including increasing police presence, exclusion zones, “zero toler-
ance” signs, “do not serve” or “most unwanted” lists, trespassing letters, 
and building a sobering center or youth center (internal quotation marks
omitted)).