Lecture Series: Homeless Camping on Public Property. City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson

Lecture Series: Homeless Camping on Public Property. City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson

Virtual presentation. Zoom. Free.

RSVP: bit.ly/LWV-GrantsPass

Join us for “Homeless Camping on Public Property,” the second in the League’s 2024-25 Lecture Series on Recent Supreme Court Decisions.

On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States by a vote of 6-3, upheld ordinances in the Oregon city of Grants Pass barring people who are homeless from sleeping within city limits, using blankets, pillows, or cardboard boxes for protection from the elements. Justices agreed with the city that ordinances enforcing camping regulations against homeless people does not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Speakers: Frank Knaack, Executive Director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont (HHAV) and Falko Schilling, Advocacy Director with ACLU Vermont.

Frank has engaged in human rights advocacy from the United Nations human rights system to municipal government and has led multiple advocacy campaigns, including building public safety systems that prioritize investments in people and communities, ensuring equal access to the courts, and creating a public health centered approach to drug policy. 

Falko has worked with legislative leaders and allies to achieve noteworthy victories including passage of one of the nations’ strongest police use of force laws, reductions to the number of people incarcerated in Vermont prisons, and passage of the Reproductive Liberty Amendment enshrining access to reproductive health care in Vermont’s constitution.

In its ninth season, the League of Women Voters of Vermont Lecture Series in collaboration with Kellogg-Hubbard Library, is designed to bring outstanding speakers to discuss contemporary issues related to democracy and social justice.

Upcoming presentations: January 8: Chevron Doctrine overruled, Limits power of regulatory agencies, February 12: Carson v. Makin, Public funds for religious schools, and March 12: Garland v. Cargill, Gun rights, to include historical background and Vermont law.