Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf
Page Number: 69

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

25 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

night”).

Even  the  Federal  Government,  which  restricts  some 
sleeping  activities  on  park  lands,  see  ante,  at  7,  has  for 
nearly three decades “taken the position that laws prohib-
iting sleeping in public at all times and in all places violate
the Robinson principle as applied to individuals who have
no access to shelter.”  Brief for United States as Amicus Cu-
riae 14.  The same is true of States across the Nation.  See 
Brief  for  Maryland  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  3–4  (“Taking 
these  policies  [criminalizing  homelessness]  off  the  table 
does not interfere with our ability to address homelessness
(including the effects of homelessness on surrounding com-
munities) using other policy tools, nor does it amount to an
undue intrusion on state sovereignty”).

Nothing in today’s decision prevents these States, cities,
and counties from declining to criminalize people for sleep-
ing in public when they have no available shelter.  Indeed, 
although the majority describes Martin as adopting an un-
workable rule, the elected representatives in Oregon codi-
fied  that  very  rule.    See  infra,  at  26.    The  majority  does
these localities a disservice by ascribing to them a demand
for unfettered freedom to punish that many do not seek. 

VI 
The  Court  wrongly  concludes  that  the  Eighth  Amend-
ment permits Ordinances that effectively criminalize being
homeless.  Grants Pass’s Ordinances may still raise a host 
of  other  legal  issues.  Perhaps  recognizing  the  untenable 
position  it  adopts,  the  majority  stresses  that  “many  sub-
stantive legal protections and provisions of the Constitution 
may  have  important  roles  to  play  when  States  and  cities 
seek to enforce their laws against the homeless.”  Ante, at 
31.  That is true.  Although I do not prejudge the merits of 
these other issues, I detail some here so that people experi-
encing  homelessness  and  their  advocates  do  not  take  the