These advocates add that the two cities are extreme examples because they sought to enforce their ordinances citywide and essentially banish homeless people from living in them.

State and local attorneys in California say the rulings have had a broad and troubling impact because they have been read as forbidding any enforcement action against homeless encampments if a city does not offer shelter to the many thousands who may need it.

Lawyers for dozens of West Coast cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix and Los Angeles, say they have faced lawsuits accusing them of violating the constitutional rights of homeless people.

The justices must decide whether city ordinances that forbid or limit sleeping or camping on sidewalks amount to cruel and unusual punishment. The court’s conservatives are expected to be skeptical.

But the court could seek a middle approach by ruling that cities have the authority to restrict camping in public, so long as the ban is limited to certain places.

The Justice Department is urging the court to adopt that approach.

“The Constitution does not prevent the federal government, states, or localities from imposing reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on sleeping in public and other conduct associated with homelessness,” Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar said.

What’s the argument of cities such as Grants Pass?

Lawyers for Grants Pass argue that camping on a public sidewalk is a conduct, not a status. And they say that imposing modest fines on repeat violators is not cruel and unusual punishment.

The attorneys say courts should not go down the road of freeing people from the law for what can be called “involuntary” conduct.

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