Susan Shelley: How will the U.S. Supreme Court handle Grants Pass v. Johnson?

Last Monday, the question of when and if cities may enforce an anti-camping ordinance finally came before the U.S. Supreme Court.

It has been a long wait.

The smallest details of homelessness policy in California and other western states have been under the control of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals since April 2006, when the American Civil Liberties Union won a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. The decision in Jones v. Los Angeles was “historic,” the ACLU said, and “ends...