U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested that an Oregon town wanted unhoused people to "kill themselves" after the municipality moved to punish people for sleeping outside.
During oral arguments on Monday, Sotomayor told Theane Evangelis, a lawyer for Grants Pass, that the city's "intent is to remove every homeless person and give them no public space to sit down with a blanket or lay down with a blanket and fall asleep."
"So we think that it is harmful for people to be living in public spaces, on streets and in parks, whatever bedding materials, when humans are living in those conditions," Evangelis replied. "We think that that's not compassionate."
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"Oh, it's not, but neither is providing them with nothing to alleviate that situation," the justice interrupted. "Where do we put them if every city, every village, every town lacks compassion and passes a law identical to this? Where are they supposed to sleep? Are they supposed to kill themselves not sleeping?"
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Evangelis argued she presented a "necessity defense" and a "complicated policy question."
"What's so complicated about letting someone somewhere sleep with a blanket in the outside if they have nowhere to sleep?" Sotomayor wondered.
"The laws against defecation, the laws against keeping things unsanitary around yourself, those have all been upheld," she added. "The only thing this injunction does is say you can't stop someone from sleeping in a public place without a blanket."
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