Judge Blocks Homeless Camping Restrictions in Oregon City That Won Supreme Court Challenge

The temporary restraining order against Grants Pass came days after disability rights activists sued over local camping regulations.

Plaintiff Jeffrey Dickerson outside a city-owned campsite in Grants Pass, Ore., on Jan. 29. Courtesy of Oregon Law Center

An Oregon judge has temporarily blocked a city from enforcing its public camping policies after the city prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed municipalities to enforce homeless camping bans.

The new judicial action comes after the Supreme Court upheld a local ordinance banning public camping, which activists claimed criminalized being homeless. In a 6–3 ruling in June 2024, the high court rejected the novel argument that the local law in Grants Pass, Oregon, violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. With a population of 39,000, Grants Pass is in southwest Oregon near the California border.

The new court order came after Portland-based Disability Rights Oregon and five disabled homeless individuals sued Grants Pass in state court on Jan. 30 over the city’s restrictions on camping in public spaces.

Judge Brandon Thueson of Josephine County Circuit Court issued a temporary restraining order on Feb. 3.

For 14 days from the date of the order, the city is not allowed to “cite, arrest, detain, issue fines, or otherwise prosecute any person for camping anywhere in the city, nor shall the city compel a person to leave a campsite, remove a campsite (other than one obviously abandoned for multiple days), or otherwise prohibit a person from camping on lands designated as park spaces.”

The plaintiffs claim in the lawsuit that the city makes life difficult for homeless people.

Some homeless people won’t stay at the one privately operated overnight shelter because it requires regular attendance at religious services and bans smoking, alcohol, illegal drugs, and pets, according to the legal complaint.

Months after the Supreme Court ruling, the City Council voted to shut down the larger of two city-owned campsites on which homeless people had been permitted to stay and to restrict the use of the smaller one. City officials said the larger site was an unsanitary eyesore. Construction of a water treatment facility is scheduled to begin at the larger site in May.

Both sites were unsuitable for use by disabled people, including those using mobility devices such as wheelchairs. The smaller site is open from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., after which campers have to remove their belongings, the complaint said.

The lawsuit asked the state court for a temporary restraining order reversing the closure of the larger campsite and halting the city policy restricting the hours of the smaller campsite.

The plaintiffs claimed that the city’s new camping policies discriminate against disabled people and violate a state law that requires that municipal camping regulations are “objectively reasonable.”

Tom Stenson, deputy legal director at Disability Rights Oregon, hailed the new court ruling.

“This emergency pause provides an opportunity for Grants Pass to redirect its policies in a more reasonable and constructive manner, instead of threatening the lives of people with disabilities by prohibiting them from protecting themselves from the February cold,” he said in a statement the group provided The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times reached out to the city for comment but no reply was received by publication time.

After the court ruling, Grants Pass spokesman Mike Zacchino told the Associated Press, “This is an important issue, and we are actively reviewing all aspects to ensure we make the best decision for our community.”