THE MORNING RANT: Supreme Court Overturns the Ninth Circuit's Ruling Establishing a Right to Engage in Vagrancy

The Supreme Court had several blockbuster rulings in the past few days. The two most prominent ones were 1) The ruling regarding presidential immunity, which should help to tame the lawfare against Donald Trump; and 2) The ruling reversing the Chevron deference, which might start to tame the unaccountable federal bureaucracy.

But there was a third blockbuster ruling, one that will finally allow cities in the western US to clear their streets of homeless encampments. The Ninth Circuit Court had decreed that sleeping on city streets was a constitutional right throughout its jurisdiction, bringing San Francisco-style street pathologies to even the reddest of towns in the American West. The city of Grants Pass, Oregon sought relief at the Supreme Court and was victorious.

Mark Pulliam from the Misrule of Law blog just wrote an excellent piece about Grants Pass v Johnson and the prior maladministration of justice that made the Grants Pass ruling necessary.

“Common Sense and Public Order Are Restored to America’s Cities” [Mark Pulliam - The American Conservative – 7/02/2024]

I’ll start by quoting a line from the middle of Pulliam’s piece, which should bring a smile to so many Americans who have seen their cities trashed under the Ninth Circuit’s destructive imposition of criminal vagrancy on otherwise orderly cities. ”There is no constitutional right to vagrancy, and sleeping outside is not an ‘involuntary’ act immune from criminal prosecution, the Court held.”

This ruling probably won’t have much impact on cities with Pol Pot mayors and Soros District Attorneys, e.g. those who welcome vagrancy and the destruction of civilizational order. But in cities like Grants Pass, it’s a chance to reclaim their streets.

In Martin v. Boise, the Ninth Circuit struck down—in the entire western United States—all laws and ordinances forbidding “camping” in public areas on the grounds that punishing vagrants for sleeping in parks, on sidewalks, under overpasses, etc. amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Eighth Amendment because homelessness is ostensibly a status, not conduct. Unless cities provide adequate shelter beds for all vagrants seeking free lodging, the Ninth Circuit opined, bums, drunks, addicts, and the mentally ill have “no choice” except to sleep outdoors.

Unsurprisingly, homeless camps took root in cities from Arizona to Montana, and all points further west, with local governments powerless to take any corrective actions other than offering up free housing. The Grants Pass ruling reversed “Martin vs Boise.”

Cities and states are free to manage homeless encampments and the accompanying crime, drug abuse, and public health consequences, as they see fit. The jurisprudential nightmare unleashed by the Ninth Circuit is over.

Pulliam also delivers a little intellectual mockery of the modern Supreme Court’s dissenting liberals, after first pointing out that the late Thurgood Marshall, a liberal champion during his Supreme Court tenure, wrote a prominent opinion (“Powell v Texas”) stating that public drunkenness was not a protected “status” under the Constitution, even if the person was an alcoholic. The current Supreme Court referenced and affirmed Powell v Texas in the Grant’s Pass decision, asserting that a ban on sleeping in public is no different than a ban on being drunk in public.

Despite this simple and irrefutable logic, the three left-wing dissenters in Grants Pass wrote 30 pages of overheated nonsense defending the Ninth Circuit’s execrable decision in Martin v. Boise. Justice Sotomayor’s paean to judicial activism begins with this drivel: “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime.” This is how divided the Court is in 2024. The three remaining Democrat appointees comprise a bloc of hard-left ideological zealots willing to embrace far-fetched theories that even Thurgood Marshall slapped down as silly during the heyday of “living Constitution” judicial activism during the 1960s.

I’ve appropriated just about enough from Pulliam’s piece. Please give it a click and read the whole thing, which finishes with the following:

The conservative majority in Grants Pass provided a master class in originalist constitutional interpretation, restoring the ability of America’s cities to govern themselves. This is a victory for democracy, federalism, and common sense, and a major defeat for the National Homelessness Law Center, which spearheads litigation seeking to create a right to taxpayer-funded housing. Bravo!

I’d like to also add this, the final sentence from the Syllabus of the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass ruling, which I believe was penned by Neil Gorsuch. It is a refreshing slap at federal courts who arrogate unto themselves the right to set policy:

The Constitution’s Eighth Amendment serves many important functions, but it does not authorize federal judges to wrest those rights and responsibilities from the American people and in their place dictate this Nation’s homelessness policy.

How about something fun since it’s still a Holiday weekend…

Throckmorton’s First Law of Live Music: “If There’s an Upright Bass in the Band, It’s Probably Going to Be Good”

The indispensable Mark Hemingway strayed from politics recently in a piece at The Federalist to praise the amazing new album from Monte Warden and The Dangerous Few.

“Monte Warden And The Dangerous Few’s ‘Jackpot!’ Is The Most Compelling Album Of The Year” [Mark Hemingway – The Federalist – 5/16/2024]

What if you took every American musical genre you could think of and combined them on one record? The results shouldn’t be this good.

The album is “Jackpot!” by his band Monte Warden and The Dangerous Few, which is a monumental achievement. I’m hard-pressed to think of a record that so effortlessly and pleasurably blends so many different musical styles. Jazz, bossa nova, country swing, gospeI — I swear there’s even a… polka? It’s quite the musical evolution from The Wagoneers because The Dangerous Few is essentially a jazz band, and an incredibly talented one at that.

Caught the Dangerous Few at The Parker Jazz Club in Austin last fall... Amazing show, and this new song is incredibly fun. Give it a listen. https://t.co/OLRDkTbrcI

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) March 19, 2024

I’ve been a huge fan of Mr. Warden since his breakout album, “Stout and High,” with rockabilly band The Wagoneers back in the 1980s. It is that proverbial album that I wore out - I doubt there is any record in my collection I’ve listened to as much as that one. Mr. Hemingway gives a good background on the rise and fall of the Wagoneers in this piece, in addition to his discussion of the Jackpot album.

A song from the new album, “Waxahachie Coochie Coo,” is currently climbing the Americana charts. I couldn’t find a live video of the band playing the song, so I contacted Monte and he sent me this Vimeo link of an entire Dangerous Few concert from three months ago. “Waxahachie” is at the 55-minute mark, but the whole thing is so darned good.

April 11, 2024 - Monte Warden from Parker Jazz Club on Vimeo.

By the way, if you’re curious about the Wagoneers album that had such an impact on Mr. Hemingway and me, here is The Universal Music Group’s link to “Stout and High” on You Tube.

Have a blessed weekend, and although July 4th is now over, keep the Spirit of ’76 alive within you.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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