A high court ruling on a lawsuit originating from Grants Pass, Oregon, could effectively decide a similar lawsuit in Boulder, with major implications for how cities address homeless encampments.

By John Herrick, Boulder Reporting Lab (Via AP Storyshare)

A Boulder County District Court judge has paused a lawsuit challenging the City of Boulder’s camping ban while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar civil rights case stemming from Grants Pass, Oregon. The ruling from the nation’s highest court could have major implications for how cities across the country respond to encampments in public spaces amid rising homelessness.

The Boulder lawsuit seeks to halt enforcement of an ordinance that allows city officers to ticket homeless people for sleeping in public spaces when shelter is not accessible.

The case, filed by the ACLU of Colorado in May 2022 on behalf of several homeless people and a local nonprofit, Feet Forward, alleges that the city violated protections against cruel and unusual punishment in the Colorado Constitution by issuing citations to homeless people when they had nowhere else to sleep but in public spaces, among other allegations.

The legal dispute is a flashpoint in a broader debate over how the City of Boulder addresses rising homelessness and its associated impacts on public spaces. In November 2023, voters passed a ballot measure that amended city code to make tents and propane tanks near schools, sidewalks or multi-use paths “subject to prioritized removal.”

The Boulder lawsuit is currently scheduled for a trial in August 2024.

However, on April 10, 2024, Boulder County District Court Judge Robert R. Gunning issued an order halting proceedings on the case until the U.S. Supreme Court reaches a decision on a related case involving a similar ordinance in Grants Pass. The order means that neither side in the City of Boulder lawsuit will be able to file motions for discovery or request depositions for several months.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling on the Grants Pass case in June or early July, at which point the local lawsuit could proceed. Gunning said the Supreme Court ruling on the Grants Pass case could provide important precedent and “hold tremendous weight” in shaping a ruling on the Boulder case.

The Grants Pass lawsuit, Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, was filed in 2018 and alleges the city violated Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment by citing homeless people for sleeping in public spaces when they could not access shelter.

The Supreme Court held a hearing on the lawsuit on Monday, April 22. The questions posed by justices suggested that the court is relatively divided on the case. Much of the debate centered on whether homelessness is considered a state of being or form of conduct, and therefore, whether people can be punished for violating local ordinances that prohibit sleeping in public spaces.

Liberal justices appeared to side with the plaintiffs. For instance, Justice Elena Kagan said sleeping is a biological necessity, implying that people should not be punished for it. “Sleeping in public is kind of like breathing in public,” she said. By contrast, Chief Justice John Roberts offered an analogy involving someone who is hungry and in need of food. “If someone is hungry and no one is giving him food, can you prosecute him if he breaks into a store to get something to eat?” he asked a lawyer for the plaintiffs. Roberts also questioned whether the nine justices should be making “policy judgements” typically reserved for cities.

A ruling by the Supreme Court is unlikely to entirely resolve the case in Boulder. The Boulder lawsuit is based on similar civil rights protections in the Colorado Constitution, not the U.S. Constitution. That said, the wording regarding cruel and unusual punishment is similar.

The City of Boulder, which filed the motion to stay proceedings on the local lawsuit, said the Supreme Court’s decision will have a “dispositive impact on the validity of Plaintiffs’ remaining claim.” The plaintiffs argued the stay will “interfere with ongoing discovery that is critical to the timely resolution of this case.”

The City of Boulder spends about $3 million per year clearing out encampments of homeless people and cleaning up public spaces.

At least 171 people are experiencing homelessness in the City of Boulder, according to a point-in-time count by the city in July 2023. That number is likely higher, as people are often turned away from the city’s main shelter in North Boulder, which has a capacity of about 180 during certain severe weather conditions.

The post Boulder camping ban lawsuit is paused as judge awaits U.S. Supreme Court ruling appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

As America’s Supreme Court rolls back freedoms for protected classes, a day of celebration became heavily focused on what voters need to do.

Longmont Pride 2023 Rally, Photo credit: Kenneth Wajda

Yesterday, Yellow Scene Magazine had a booth at Pride Longmont. A few weeks before, we also had a booth at Pride Boulder. Out Boulder County hosts both events. They are always spaces of joy, happiness, acceptance, and love. While both days celebrated the right to be who you are in society, Longmont Pride took a very serious turn in spirit based on the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing businesses to discriminate based on religious beliefs.

Out Boulder County Executive Director Mardi Moore, Photo credit: Kenneth Wajda

After hearing the ruling, Out Boulder County quickly added several local legislators to speak on the latest attacks on civil rights. Executive Director Mardi Moore started out by stating, “As a 60-year-old lesbian, I can’t believe I am back fighting this again, but fight is what we will do.”

Former Deputy Attorney General for Colorado Jean Dubofsky spoke next. She addressed the legal ramifications of this ruling. She is best known for leading the fight for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Colorado’s Amendment 2, which prevented the LGBTQIA community from obtaining redress for discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy stated, “We are now being governed by six people who have life tenure, and let’s be clear: This case would not have arisen but for the fact that people continue to hold homophobic views.”

Representative Brianna Titone, Photo credit: Kenneth Wajda

Representative Brianna Titone, the first transgender state legislator in Colorado, encouraged people to vote. Especially young people. She says, “We’ve got a lot more bad things that are going to be coming upon us, but we have to band together and fight back, register to vote, get other people to vote, and vote for the good people.”

Statistics and results show that younger voters need to show up.

Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, Longmont Mayor Joan Peck, and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty expressed similar sentiments. 

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Photo credit: Kenneth Wajda

District Attorney Dougherty addressed the crowd, “Normally, when we come together for Longmont Pride, it is a cause for great celebration, to be in this wonderful community and be together. Today is no cause or reason to celebrate. In fact, the last 48 hours have been no reason to celebrate because when it comes to affirmative action and LGBTQ rights, the U.S. Supreme Court, in just two decisions, took two giant steps back for equality in this country. And that is unacceptable.”

Boulder County NAACP President Annette James, Photo credit: S. Blades

In a show of solidarity, Boulder County NAACP President Annette James spoke on the need for the organizations to unite and fired the crowd up speaking about America’s long history of injustice. 

Also present at the event were Broomfield Mayor Guyleen Castriotta, Lyons Mayor Hollie Rogin, State Representative Karen McCormick, State Representative Jennifer Parenti, State Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis, State Representative Judy Amabile, Boulder County Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann, and Boulder Chamber’s Senior Director of Policy Programs & former State Representative Jonathan Singer.

Rep. Karen McCormick, Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, Rep. Brianna Titone, Rep. Jennifer Parenti, Rep. Judy Amabile, Photo credit: S. Blades

Statement from Out Boulder County on Facebook

Since Trump’s time serving as the most corrupt POTUS in history — if nothing else, the only one to be indicted twice — in addition to the mess he left us with, he also gave us three new ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justices. One can only imagine Justice Robert’s glee when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. 

After all, he’s been waiting almost 20 years to rule the courts from his religious views. 

The right-wing majority on the Court includes current corruption investigations into two Supreme Court Justices. Justice Clarence Thomas (who is facing calls for impeachment) and Justice Samuel Alito for hanging out with billionaires he was hearing cases for.

The perfect storm to roll our country back has been created. And the Supreme Court is, in fact, turning the hands of time backward. 

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/significant-supreme-court-cases-in-the-2022-2023-term

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinion/22

Since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade (removing women’s rights to control their own bodies), the Supreme Court has struck down Student Loan forgiveness, struck down Affirmative Action for universities (while allowing Legacy Admissions to remain), ruled against environmental protections and climate change, stripped down gun regulations, given cyberstalkers the right to harass, and now have ruled for businesses to have the right to discriminate based on their religious beliefs. The argument that it is anything other than personal beliefs guiding them is evident in the willy-nilly way the Supreme Court follows precedent. Toss it out when they don’t like it, and use it when it suits them. Ethics be damned.

“Precedents that had stood since the 1970s were overturned, explicitly in the case of abortion and effectively in the affirmative action context.”

Justice Roberts must be in Sadism heaven. 

Currently, 23.88% of America identifies as Republican, while 46.89% identify as Democrat, 61% believe abortion should be legal, 63% are dissatisfied with current gun regulations, two-thirds want climate change addressed, and 71% think gay marriage should be legal. Yet the religious right and the GOP are controlling more legislation than they have actual public support for. The Supreme Court is overruling the will of the people.

The ruling was based on a website designer’s claim that she did not want to make content for a gay wedding, but the case itself was based on a call that never happened. 

“When Smith and her attorneys, the Christian right group Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF, brought this case for the first time, it was to the United States District Court in Colorado in 2016, and they lost. Smith and ADF filed the case on September 20 of that year, asking the court to enjoin the state anti-discrimination law so that Smith could begin offering her wedding website design services to straight couples only. Up to this point, Smith had never designed any wedding website. (In fact, her website six months prior to the lawsuit being filed in 2016 does not include any of the Christian messaging that it did shortly afterward and today, archived versions of the site show.) The initial lawsuit did not mention the “Stewart” inquiry, which was submitted to Smith’s website on September 21, according to the date-stamp shown in later court filings, indicating that she received it the day after the suit was originally filed.

It is unclear exactly when—or if—the inquiry from “Stewart” was examined and verified in the course of this legal battle.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/173987/mysterious-case-fake-gay-marriage-website-real-straight-man-supreme-court

Ultra-right-wing Christian groups like Moms for Liberty and Alliance Defending Freedom (the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) has deemed the ADF as a hate group) are major influencers in moving our country backward. They claim to be grassroots efforts but are actually funded by Dark Money. Citizens United is another attack on Democracy brought to us by the Supreme Court. 

We are not alone in our concerns regarding the flagrant disregard for human rights by this Supreme Court. 

Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent: “Kagan wrote something unusual. She didn’t just challenge the chief justice’s reasoning, she questioned whether the court’s decision was even constitutional.

“From the first page to the last, today’s opinion departs from the demands of judicial restraint,” Kagan wrote. “At the behest of a party that has suffered no injury, the majority decides a contested public policy issue properly belonging to the politically accountable branches and the people they represent.”

She continued: “That is a major problem not just for governance, but for democracy too. Congress is, of course, a democratic institution; it responds, even if imperfectly, to the preferences of American voters. And agency officials, though not themselves elected, serve a President with the broadest of all political constituencies. But this Court? It is, by design, as detached as possible from the body politic. That is why the Court is supposed to stick to its business — to decide only cases and controversies and to stay away from making this Nation’s policy about subjects like student-loan relief.”

The court, Kagan concluded, “exercises authority it does not have. It violates the Constitution.”

In August 2020, President Biden said, “What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.” 

(President Biden, if it looks like a duck..)

But hey, so much more to look forward to. The Supreme Court will next decide if domestic abusers can own a gun. What could go wrong since they have already decided it’s okay to walk around with a loaded one with no serial number?

More on the United States Supreme Court:

Longmont Pride 2023, Photos by Kenneth Wajda

The post How a day of celebration, became a day of protest; Longmont Pride 2023 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.