Warming Up the Bulldozers

Homelessness, Law, and the Making of Maximally Unjust Cities

Abstract

The United States Supreme Court majority’s decision in the 2024 case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, is an object lesson in cruelty.  Its main directive – that cities are now free to punish homeless people simply because they are homeless – has been enthusiastically received by official across urban America.  The United States war on homeless people has entered a new phase.  This paper examines the trail of precedents leading to Grants Pass, the tortured reasoning of the majority’s decision, and the stinging dissent by Associate Justice Sonya Sotomayor, to better understand the ways in which deadly cruelty is made legal.  The paper then examines the decision in light of recent developments in justice theory among political philosophers to reveal how what is under construction in the USA is nothing less than maximally unjust cities.