Amicus Spotlight: City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson

An unholy coalition of right-wingers and California Democrats wants the Supreme Court to eviscerate the rights of homeless people.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a highly-consequential case concerning the rights of homeless people. 

As Ian Milhiser writes in Vox, the case will decide whether municipal laws that ban homeless people from sleeping or camping outside on public property violate the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The case’s origins, Milhiser’s colleague Rachel Cohen explains, trace back to a 2018 appeals court ruling that homeless people could not be punished for sleeping outside on public property if there are no adequate alternatives. The city of Grants Pass, Oregon, challenged that precedent after the Ninth Circuit ruled in September 2022 that the city’s “anti-sleeping” and “anti-camping” ordinances violated the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court announced in January 2024 it would hear Grant Pass’ appeal. 

Homelessness and criminal justice reform advocates are concerned the right-wing Roberts Court will not only use Grants Pass v. Johnson to criminalize being homeless, but also radically reinterpret the Eighth Amendment to overturn decades of precedent on what constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.” As The Marshall Project warns, an expansive ruling in Grants Pass could have devastating ramifications for criminal defendants and prisoners, from gutting access to proper medical care in prison to expanding the use of the death penalty. 

The City of Grants Pass is represented in this case by Gibson Dunn, a notorious corporate law firm that also represents embattled software firm RealPage and previously represented Chevron in its smear campaign against human rights attorney Steven Donziger. An unusual coalition of conservative advocacy groups and powerful California Democrats are supporting Grants Pass in the case, filing over 30 amicus briefs urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. 

An RDP review of amicus brief filings in Grants Pass v. Johnson finds at least 6 right-wing amicus filers have significant ties to conservative “court-whisperers”, such as the Koch network and Paul Singer. 

• THE CICERO INSTITUTE: Founded by venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, the Cicero Institute is one of the leading conservative think tanks promoting state bans on “unauthorized street camping”. Cicero Institute has proliferated draft “anti-camping” legislation nationwide for years, with successes in Florida, Texas, and Missouri. Cicero is currently pushing bills criminalizing homelessness in states like Kansas, Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.
  • Anti-union billionaire Charles Koch, who has brought Justice Thomas to his network’s fundraising retreats, has given large amounts of money to bankroll the Cicero Institute. Cicero received $150,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation in 2021 and $250,000 from Charles Koch’s Stand Together Trust in 2022. 
  • Cicero’s brief is co-authored by conservative law firm CONSOVOY MCCARTHY PLLC, which regularly represents Leonard Leo-backed groups and champions right-wing causes like opposing affirmative action, stopping student debt relief, and defending Donald Trump. Five of the firm’s nine current partners have previously clerked for Justice Thomas. Tyler Green – the firm’s lead lawyer and former Thomas clerk – is an administrative trustee for Marble Freedom Trust, Leo’s $1.6 billion dark-money warchest. 

• THE MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: The Manhattan Institute is a right-wing think tank that has defended trickle-down economics and argued for the privatization of social services. Manhattan has argued in favor of addressing homelessness with police enforcement and against a “Housing First” approach of immediate permanent housing.
  • The Manhattan Institute received $3,182,717 from Koch organizations and foundations between 1997 and 2017. The Manhattan Institute is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network. 
  • Multi-billionaire Paul Singer is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Manhattan Institute. He contributed $8,760,000 to the Manhattan institute between 2011 and 2022, funding $1,635,000 in 2022 alone.
  • Kathy Crow, wife of real estate mogul Harlan Crow, is a current Trustee of the Manhattan Institute.

• THE GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: The Goldwater Institute is an Arizona-based right-wing think tank named after former Senator Barry Goldwater. It has relentlessly targeted homeless encampments in Phoenix and attacked housing affordability policies like rent control.
  • The Charles Koch Institute has given the Goldwater Institute $1,161,500 since 2016, with over 95% of that money coming in 2020 and 2021. The Charles Koch Foundation also gave the Goldwater Institute $238,353 from 2004 to 2020. That includes $100,000 grants in 2016 and 2018. The Goldwater Institute is also an affiliate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.

• U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the country’s largest lobbying group, representing some of Corporate America’s biggest price-gougers and repeat-offenders. The Chamber spends millions annually on federal lobbying and dark money political contributions to promote an anti-worker agenda.
  • The Charles Koch Foundation has given large amounts of money to bankroll the Chamber’s work, including a 2021 grant of $817,500 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and a 2022 grant of $1.65 million to fund the Chamber’s JobSIDE initiative. 
  • Former Chamber president Thomas Donohue and current Chamber board member Frank VanderSloot are both members of the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas  with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building. 

• THE PACIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PRI): PRI is a right-wing think tank that has advocated against eviction bans, rent control, and taxing the wealthy to address the homelessness crisis.
  • PRI has received over $1.7 million in donations from Koch-linked foundations and is a member of the State Policy Network. 

• PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION (PLF): PLF is a right-wing litigation group with deep ties to Big Tobacco and Big Oil. Citing an unflinching commitment to “property rights,” PLF opposes rent control, eviction moratoria, and “good cause” eviction laws.
  • PLF has taken over $3 million in donations from the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute since 2015, and is a member of the State Policy Network.

Other notable right-wing amicus filers in this case include:

• MONTANA ATTORNEY GENERAL AUSTIN KNUDSEN: Knudsen and Idaho AG Raúl Labrador lead a coalition of 24 Republican attorneys general in a brief filed in support of Grants Pass – consistent with their respective states’ aforementioned efforts to criminalize homelessness in coordination with the Cicero Institute. The Republican State AGs brief was also joined by Alaska AG Treg Taylor, who is currently arguing that a proposed anti-protest bill in Alaska be interpreted to further crack down on the homeless.

• REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: Six GOP House members from Oregon and California have signed a petitioner-side brief, claiming the Ninth Circuit’s opinion “strips their constituents’ ability” to “keep their public areas safe and enjoyable”. They include multimillionaire Darrell Issa (CA-48), Big Lie-believer Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), and Grants Pass representative Cliff Bentz (OR-02). 

Contempt for the unhoused has bipartisan crossover, with Democratic amicus filers including:

• CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM: In a “neither side” amicus brief, Newsom argues the Grants Pass and Martin v. Boise rulings bar local authorities from moving the homeless from encampments to shelter. However, Oregon Law Center attorneys representing the plaintiffs have rebuked Newsom’s cynical mischaracterization of the rulings. San Francisco’s Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights issued an amicus in support of the plaintiffs accusing Newsom & co. of engaging in “political theatre” to deflect responsibility following years of policy failures.

• SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR LONDON BREED: Facing a hotly contested reelection campaign where homelessness is a core issue, Democratic incumbent Mayor Breed is banking on SCOTUS to clarify her authority to sweep homeless camps. Breed recently gained national notoriety for her push to drug-test welfare recipients, an ineffective and traditionally-Republican policy proposal. 

On the respondent-side of the case, over a thousand interested parties have filed over 40 amicus briefs supporting the plaintiffs, including 223 experts on unhoused youth, 57 published social scientists studying homelessness, leading members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, six Democratic state AGs, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Learn more about the right-wing moneyed interests influencing the Supreme Court through amicus briefs at SupremeTransparency.org.