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To: PGR88

“The notion that SCOTUS would allow people to camp, urinate, squat, etc... on public property as a 4th or 14th amendment right is nonsense.”

I did not say that SCOTUS allowed it, did I? In fact I specifically said they had not ruled on that particular question, did I not? But lower courts have. Which way the SCOTUS would rule on it if it came before them is something that you might think you can predict, but they might not go the way you expect, so I’ll wait to see how that plays out.

Also, mixing in things (like public urination, which everyone agrees is a crime) is just muddying the waters. The only real contested issue is whether they can be arrested simply for sleeping on public property.

“For example, we all know Rudy Guiliani cleaned up NY City using exactly this tactic - people were arrested for specific crimes of urinating in public, vandalism, breaking NY housing and health codes, drugs, etc... “

Ah yes, but I think if you look into that, you’ll find that while he used those laws as a pretense for arrest, he didn’t actually prosecute people for “vagrancy”, since that would invite a legal challenge to the vagrancy laws and then they would likely be struck down. Same thing when Chicago was using “loitering” laws to get gang bangers off the corner. They might use the loitering law as a basis for a stop, a search, and even an arrest, but they would not prosecute on the loitering charge so that the law which they knew was of questionable legality would be preserved.

“And that’s exactly why places like SF and Portland have the problems they do - they have woke, “soros” DA’s, who refuse to enforce the law and apply appropriate penalties.”

Well, there you have it. If they can solve the problem using the existing laws and existing penalties, then there’s no need to try to arrest people for simple vagrancy, or to send them to detention camps, and therefore no need to take actions that courts are likely to find unconstitutional. Just use the existing strategy that already works instead of one that probably won’t.


53 posted on 07/20/2023 10:02:42 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman
I did not say that SCOTUS allowed it, did I?

YES, you did. In you Post#45

54 posted on 07/20/2023 10:13:37 AM PDT by PGR88
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