NPR WFYI Indianapolis this morning announced:  Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a major homelessness case for the first time in decades, with arguments over whether people can be punished for sleeping outside if there’s no shelter available. The decision could have sweeping implications for the record number of people living in tents and cars, and the cities and states struggling to manage them.

Tents cover an open space near the Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon, on July 7, 2023. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

The current case before SCOTUS today is from Grants Pass, Oregon, said to be a symbol of how widespread homelessness has become across the country. The debate before the court goes back to two rulings by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one in 2018 and one in 2022. Both said that under the Eighth Amendment  it would be cruel and unusual to impose criminal and civil penalties on  someone for sleeping on public land. Today’s case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, challenges those rulings.