The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, in which the Supreme Court will decide whether a law criminalizing homelessness constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, which is forbidden by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.
“The contention that the government may impose criminal punishments on homeless people precisely because of their homelessness deeply conflicts with settled western and Catholic understandings for many centuries,” the USCCB argues. “It is likewise inconsistent with the views of the Founding generation and with current constitutional principles.”