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Abstract

The case of City of Grants Pass v. Johnson arose against the backdrop of a rising homeless population not seen before and the struggles cities faced with addressing this rise in homelessness and the proliferation of homeless encampments in urban areas. The case presented the question whether the City of Grants Pass ordinances that prohibited the homeless from sleeping or camping outside constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that it did. The United States Supreme Court reversed, finding that the ordinances did not violate the Eighth Amendment. In its decision, the Court confined its prior precedent in Robinson v. California and Powell v. Texas, which the Ninth Circuit expanded to hold that homelessness was an involuntary status that could not be criminally punished under the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court confined Robinson and Powell and restored an originalist and textualist interpretation of the Eighth Amendment. The Court’s decision and rationale are consistent with Christian worldview principles of limited jurisdiction and justice to the poor and vulnerable. After the Grants Pass decision, Christians must continue, as they have for centuries, to reach out in new and various ways to the homeless, especially considering the current unprecedented level of homelessness in the United States.

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