LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that homeless people can be arrested and fined for sleeping outside. The ruling overturned a law in the West that determined punishing someone for sleeping on public property who has nowhere else to go was a violation of the 18th Amendment and constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
We have local reaction from the Supreme Court's decision. A large crowd gathered outside of the Catholic Action Center, set to take a trip to Washington D.C.
They're headed to the Mass Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March taking place Saturday.
"This is not one of those happy go lucky trips that we're on."
Tayna Fogle stood before several people outside of the Catholic Action Center just before departing for D.C.
This group, equipped with matching t-shirts, includes at least 45 members of The Street Voice Council in Lexington.
"We are at a starting line trying to get to the finish line as far as being homeless, as I always say, we just need a little bit of help, and this is a start," said Greg Searight.
Searight, ambassador for The Street Voice Council, like Maurice Noe, a leader from Vocal Kentucky, has this reaction to the Supreme Court ruling.
"Today, this just shows that people in America, they don't have a voice, they don't have a voice," said Noe.
House Bill 5, the Safer Kentucky Act, goes into effect July 15, meaning anyone unlawfully camping can be arrested or fined.
Jacques Wigginton addressed this group's mission and how it plans to protest HB 5.
"It's time for all of us to get off our couch, and make a statement, because otherwise, we become complicit in what we do."
The effort continues on a nine-and-a-half-hour trip to D.C. after three months of planning for this event.
Former urban county councilmember Jacques Wigginton told us Friday that the group making the trip to D.C. is "part of an overall movement, that is a call to morality."
