ACLU Drops Homelessness Lawsuit Against Honolulu
The action comes less than two weeks after a consequential U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave local governments more leeway to ban sleeping outside.
The American Civil Liberties Union dropped its lawsuit Monday against the City and County of Honolulu’s homelessness policies.
The lawsuit accused the city of unjustly targeting homeless people through policies like a ban on camping at public parks and beaches and a ban on sitting and lying on sidewalks in business areas.
Because there are more homeless people than there are shelter beds available, a ban on sleeping outside constitutes cruel or unusual punishment under the state constitution, the ACLU argued, referencing a 2018 federal court ruling out of Boise, Idaho.
The city responded that its bans don’t cover the entire island, so homeless people can sleep in other places.
The ACLU filed its lawsuit last July, and in August, the organization filed a request that the city be ordered to halt its policy enforcement until at least the conclusion of the lawsuit. A judge rejected that request in January.
At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bans on outdoor camping do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution. It said that fines and jail time are reasonable punishments, and that these bans criminalize a person’s conduct, not their homeless status.
The ruling takes away homeless advocates’ main legal tool against city policies that they deem unjust. It gives local governments a lot more leeway to issue new policies against outdoor camping or to expand existing ones.
On Friday, ACLU filed a proposal to dismiss the lawsuit, and on Monday, the dismissal became official.
