Supreme Court to weigh constitutionality today of anti-camping ordinances in major homelessness case

Washington — The Supreme Court is convening Monday to hear arguments in a dispute over whether laws that ban public camping violate the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The case is the most significant involving homelessness to come before the nation's highest court in decades, and its outcome could impact how cities and states respond to high rates of homelessness that have given rise to encampments on public property. 

The dispute involves the constitutionality of laws that punish homeless people with civil citations for camping on public property. Arguments come as the nation confronts a spike in homelessness driven in part by high housing costs, and a ruling is likely to reach beyond the borders of the Oregon city at the center of the dispute.