Supreme Court to weigh constitutionality today of anti-camping ordinances in major homelessness case
CBSN
Washington — The Supreme Court is convening Monday to hear arguments in a dispute over whether laws that ban public camping violate the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The case is the most significant involving homelessness to come before the nation's highest court in decades, and its outcome could impact how cities and states respond to high rates of homelessness that have given rise to encampments on public property.
The dispute involves the constitutionality of laws that punish homeless people with civil citations for camping on public property. Arguments come as the nation confronts a spike in homelessness driven in part by high housing costs, and a ruling is likely to reach beyond the borders of the Oregon city at the center of the dispute.
An American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday night while coming in for a landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. The Black Hawk helicopter was carrying a crew of three. Officials said early Thursday that everyone on board both aircraft is believed dead, which would make it the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly a quarter century.