WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court turned away a legal appeal on Dec. 16 that aimed to restore Boise, Idaho’s laws banning homeless outdoor camping, which a lower court had struck down as violating the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The ruling, which may hinder local governments’ ability to combat vagrancy, came as the consequences of allowing the homeless to set up camp in public places produces negative headlines in California and elsewhere almost daily. San Francisco, for example, with its famously lax homeless policies, has become known as a once-beautiful city that is now overrun with public defecation and rampant crime.
