(Fresno, California) In response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, the city of Fresno has been ordered to stop cleaning up trash from the city's streets because it belongs to homeless people. U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger said that homeless people are being denied constitutionally-protected property rights.
From the Wanger viewpoint, "Persons cannot be punished because of their status. They cannot be denied their constitutional rights because of their appearance, because they are impoverished, because they are squatters, because they are, in effect, voiceless."
Typical homeless camp
Having seen the abject filth that collects around vagrant camps, I tend to side with the city on this issue. Nevertheless, I'm certain that the ACLU didn't have to look far nor wide to find a compliant liberal judge to stop the city cleanup. With enough Wangers on the federal bench, maybe someday we'll see cardboard boxes classified as real estate.
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