sa国际传媒官网网页入口

The city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, backed by the city of Rio Rancho and the 2nd Judicial District Attorney鈥檚 Office, hoped to convince the state Supreme Court to intervene in a pending lawsuit alleging the unconstitutional enforcement of public camping laws against the involuntarily homeless population.

Lawyers for the city argued that a lower court ruling in the case was 鈥渆gregiously flawed鈥� and should be reversed because it would result in 鈥渟ignificant and immediate harm.鈥� But the judge in the case cautioned that he hadn鈥檛 ruled on the merits and only issued a pre-trial ruling while the case proceeds.

The state Supreme Court denied the city鈥檚 request last Thursday, without explanation. The next day, the city appealed another order of state District Judge Joshua Allison to the state Court of Appeals, protesting his Oct. 2 decision certifying the lawsuit as a class action.

鈥淲e are so grateful for the outcome of the Supreme Court decision,鈥� said Kristin Greer Love, an attorney representing eight plaintiffs who are or have been homeless. 鈥淚t allows the case to proceed to trial in October 2026 so that the court can hear all the evidence and make a decision.鈥�

An attorney for the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 didn鈥檛 have an immediate comment for this story Tuesday.

The ruling that spurred the city鈥檚 emergency request to the Supreme Court was Allison鈥檚 decision earlier this year to permit attorneys for the unhoused to argue at a future trial that the city鈥檚 policy violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment when the homeless person has no place else to stay.

The plaintiffs 鈥渁nd thousands of other people exist outdoors with their belongings on public property in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 because they have no means to pay for housing and the City of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 lacks adequate and sufficient shelter,鈥� stated the plaintiffs鈥� response to the Supreme Court.

鈥淭he City orders people to move from place to place, threatening to destroy their life-sustaining belongings 鈥� wheelchairs, tents, blankets, food, water and clothing 鈥� without a warrant or adequate notice, a pre-or-post-deprivation hearing, or an opportunity to reclaim what is theirs,鈥� the response stated.

The city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 asked the Supreme Court to reverse Allison鈥檚 ruling, in which he denied the city鈥檚 motion to dismiss the cruel and unusual punishment claim from the lawsuit.

鈥淚f allowed to stand, the district court鈥檚 decision will leave the City of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and cities and towns throughout New Mexico, with no means to prevent the proliferation of encampments within their borders. Because the district court鈥檚 opinion is egregiously flawed and will result in significant and immediate harm, the city asks this court to exercise its power to take superintending control over this matter...,鈥� stated the city鈥檚 request.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman鈥檚 office filed a response supporting the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, as did the city of Rio Rancho.

They contended Allison erred last March in agreeing with the lawyers for the unhoused that a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, was flawed in concluding that local governments could enforce use-of-space ordinances against the unhoused without violating their Eighth Amendment鈥檚 cruel and unusual punishment protections. That ruling was lauded by cities and other municipalities around the country.

But Allison found that New Mexico鈥檚 state Constitution provides for greater protection against cruel and unusual punishment claims than was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The judge filed a response to the Supreme Court stating that his ruling did not adopt a 鈥渟pecific legal standard.鈥� He added that the city鈥檚 suggestion that he would side with the plaintiffs on the issue in the future was 鈥減remature.鈥�

In the new request to the Court of Appeals, lawyers for the city allege that Allison certified three classes of unhoused plaintiffs without conducting the 鈥渞igorous analysis that New Mexico law demands.鈥�

The approved classes are all current and future unhoused people involuntarily living outdoors in the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口; all current and future unhoused people living outdoors; and all persons living at the now-closed Coronado Park north of Downtown between Aug. 3, 2022, and Aug. 17, 2022, whose property was seized by the city and not returned.