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On Tuesday, McGeorge School of Law鈥檚 (HAC) submitted an to the U.S. Supreme Court in Grants Pass v. Johnson. , staff attorney Tori Larett, and third-year law student Rachel Alstrom co-authored the brief with a team of attorneys representing the (WRAP), a coalition of organizers dedicated to exposing and eliminating the root causes of homelessness and poverty while empowering communities to demand civil and human rights.聽

In Grants Pass, the Supreme Court will consider whether criminalizing camping on public property constitutes cruel and unusual punishment prohibited under the Eighth Amendment. In granting certiorari, the Court will consider the Ninth Circuit鈥檚 ruling in Martin v. Boise (2019) that found enforcement of anti-camping ordinances unconstitutional when localities fail to provide shelter beds to unhoused people.聽

Grants Pass鈥� ban on camping is part of a national trend of criminalizing homelessness. Over the last 30 years, cities, counties, and states across the country have outlawed unavoidable conduct that unhoused people engage in to survive, including sleeping, sitting, and lying down in public.

The amicus brief highlights how criminalization does not address the root causes of homelessness and 鈥斅爄n fact 鈥� obstructs pathways out of homelessness. Furthermore, it establishes the connection between the criminalization of homelessness and the United States鈥� legacy of segregation.聽

鈥淎nti-homeless laws like the camping ban in Grants Pass are sanitized versions of segregationist laws long deemed immoral and unconstitutional. While neutral on their face, they are tactically designed to exclude unhoused people who are disproportionately People of Color, LGBTQ, and living with disabilities,鈥� Larett said.聽

Paul Boden, the executive director of WRAP, added that, 鈥淭his brief was important to our members because it speaks directly with and on behalf of our community. It鈥檚 not about them but instead from us. It speaks to the historical patterns of oppression in the United States. Unhoused community members are not the first people that need the protections of the Eighth Amendment because we are not the first people who have been 鈥榦thered鈥� by those in power. Disabled people, BIPOC, queer individuals, and many others have all been impacted by local laws intended to force us out of towns. We need to protect everyone in our community and doing so is how we protect ourselves.鈥澛�

Hochbaum described the brief as an example of 鈥渕ovement lawyering鈥� that is taught in the Homeless Advocacy Clinic and Poverty Law at McGeorge School of Law.聽聽

鈥淭o accomplish systemic reform, you need to raise consciousness. This brief has that potential because it speaks to the experience of criminalization from the perspective of unhoused people subject to it. The Supreme Court should never issue a decision without hearing from the people who will be most impacted by its rulings,鈥� Hochbaum said.聽

Third-year law student Rachel Alstrom provided invaluable assistance in the drafting effort. Expected to graduate in May, Alstrom has accepted a position with the Central Valley-based firm Wanger, Jones, Helsley, PC.聽

鈥淚n the Homeless Advocacy Clinic, we mold law students into 鈥榩ractice ready鈥� attorneys. What better way to demonstrate practice readiness than by representing a client before the 鈥榟ighest court in the land?鈥欌�� Hochbaum said.聽

The Homeless Advocacy Clinic was founded in 2021 and is the first law school clinic in the country to exclusively represent people experiencing homelessness who have had contact with the criminal legal system. The Clinic is funded in part by a generous donation from Robert Buccola, 鈥�83, and his wife, Dr. Kawanaa Carter.聽