In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the high court overturned a San Francisco-based ruling that outdoor sleeping bans amount to “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Kentucky’s law bars people from camping on the streets, with the exception of designated areas, and the new court ruling suggests the commonwealth will likely be able to implement to the new law.
Critics of the policy argue it amounts to criminalizing homelessness.
"It's all about being poor. It's not about being criminals. It's not making Kentucky safer," Ginny Ramsey with the Catholic Action Center said at a protest rally against the "Safer Kentucky Act."
In a statement, the ACLU reacted to Friday’s high court ruling, saying it “ignores decades of precedent protecting Kentuckians from the cruel and unusual punishment of criminalizing homelessness.”
Supporters of Kentucky’s anti-crime bill say the act calls on local governments to create an area where people can camp and receive resources. Just how that might play out in communities across the state remains to be seen.
