U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The Supreme Court on Monday chose not to hear the city of Boise’s defense of its policy of prosecuting homeless people who sleep in a public space, letting a lower court ruling stand that terms the city’s policy “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Boise, the capital of Idaho, fined or jailed homeless people for sleeping in public, contending the policy was needed to prevent unsanitary and unsafe conditions from developing in the city. Six current and former homeless residents of the city, who were fined between $25 to $75 and served one to two days in jail, sued the city government in federal court in 2009.


The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, California, ruled in 2018 that Boise’s policy violated the 8th amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling prevents cities from punishing homeless people for sleeping in public if there are not enough beds available at local shelters to house them.

“As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” the court said in its ruling. The city of Boise maintained that it did not issue citations to people when shelters were full, and added that two of the city’s shelters had a policy to never turn away a person in need of a bed.

The state of California is currently in the midst of its own homelessness crisis, with 60,000 homeless in Los Angeles County and 28,000 in San Francisco.

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