Appeals Court Sides With Boulder On Homeless Camping Restrictions
By Leah Fraser | Hoodline
Boulder can keep ticketing and jailing people for sleeping outside, at least for now. A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday upheld the city's ban on camping and sleeping on public property, turning aside a constitutional challenge that said the rules amount to cruel and unusual punishment under state law. The three-judge panel ruled that the ordinances target conduct - pitching a tent, sleeping with a blanket or otherwise sheltering outdoors - not the status of being unhoused, leaving the city's tent and blanket bans in place while advocates decide whether to take the fight to a higher court.
The opinion, issued May 14, 2026, was written by Judge W. Eric Kuhn, who concluded that, "no matter how sympathetic their plight, these circumstances al...
