California homelessness in spotlight as Supreme Court to weigh right to camp in parks, sidewalks
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is being urged to weigh whether homeless people have a constitutional right to sleep on public sidewalks and camp in parks.
City officials in California say they face a crisis of homeless encampments that has been made worse by the courts.
At issue is a 9th Circuit Court ruling that invoked the 8th Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishments” to prohibit West Coast cities from making it a crime to sleep or camp
