The Supreme Court Just Made Homelessness Worse: Erika D. Smith

What to do about homeless encampments, which spill from freeway underpasses, block sidewalks and snake along riverbeds, has long been a question for politicians in the West.

On Friday, the US Supreme Court offered an answer, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for even the beginning of a solution for homelessness. In fact, the justices might’ve just made the problem worse.

In a 6-to-3 vote on a case involving an anti-camping law in the Oregon town of Grants Pass, the court upended years of legal precedent by ruling it’s not a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment ...