The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday anti-camping laws used by authorities in an Oregon city to stop homeless people from sleeping in public parks and public streets - a ruling that gives local and state governments a freer hand in confronting a national homelessness crisis.

The justices ruled 6-3 to overturn a lower court's decision that found that enforcing the ordinances in the city of Grants Pass when no shelter space is available for the homeless violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition on "cruel and unusual" punishments. Various jurisdictions employ similar laws.

The court's conservative justices were in the majority, while its three liberal members dissented.

TRUST IN SUPREME COURT PLUNGES AHEAD OF KEY DECISIONS ON PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, JAN. 6

Homelessness remains a complex problem for public officials in the United States as many municipalities experience chronic shortages of affordable housing. On any given night, more than 600,000 people are homeless, according to U.S. government estimates.

The case focused on three ordinances in Grants Pass, a city of roughly 38,000 people in southwestern Oregon, that together prohibit sleeping in public streets, alleyways and parks while using a blanket or bedding. Violators are fined $295. Repeat offenders can be criminally prosecuted for trespass, punishable by up to 30 days in jail.

Advocates for the homeless, various liberal legal groups and other critics have said laws like these criminalize people simply for being homeless and for actions they cannot avoid, such as sleeping in public. They point to a 1962 Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment barred punishing individuals based on their status rather than their conduct.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON CHALLENGE TO BIDEN ADMIN'S EFFORT TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA

A point of contention during the Supreme Court's arguments in the case in April was whether homelessness can be deemed a status that would prohibit enforcing local laws.

President Joe Biden's administration agreed with the plaintiffs that Grants Pass cannot enforce an "absolute ban" on sleeping in the city - which effectively criminalizes homelessness - but suggested the rulings by the lower courts against the city were too broad and should be reconsidered.

Proponents, including various government officials, have called such laws a necessary tool for maintaining public safety.

The case, which began in 2018, involved three homeless people who filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the measures impacting them in Grants Pass. One of the plaintiffs has since died.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke ruled that the city's "policy and practice of punishing homelessness" violates the Eighth Amendment and barred it from enforcing the anti-camping ordinances. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Clarke's injunction against the ordinances.

The city had defended itself in the case in part by noting that homeless people have alternatives outside the city, including nearby undeveloped federal land, county campsites or state rest stops. The judge said that argument "sheds light on the city's attitude towards its homeless citizens" by seeking to drive them out or punish them if they stay.

President Joe Biden was praised by his wife on Thursday following his first presidential debate appearance despite a widely-criticized performance.

First Lady Jill Biden greeted her husband on stage at the debate after-party with a live audience, seeming to celebrate the mere fact that the president responded to moderators' questions. 

"Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question, you knew all the facts!" Jill Biden cheered to a smiling Joe Biden on-stage.

JILL BIDEN SAYS HUSBAND IS 'ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE PRESIDENTS' IN MODERN HISTORY 'BECAUSE OF' HIS AGE

"And let me ask the crowd. "What did Trump do?" the first lady continued, turning to the audience and gesturing before shouting "Lie!"

The moment has gone viral since the debate, with many articles reporting on Jill Biden's manner of speaking being reminiscent of praising a child.

Biden's performance at the debate has been almost universally panned by commentators due to his inarticulate speaking and unstable demeanor.

BIDEN'S 'DISASTER' DEBATE PERFORMANCE SPARKS MEDIA MELTDOWN, CALLS FOR HIM TO WITHDRAW FROM 2024 RACE

Repeated stammering, long periods of silence and facial expressions that conveyed intense confusion have convinced some of Biden's loudest cheerleaders that the president must step down from the re-election campaign.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a longtime Biden ally, wrote the debate "made me weep" and realize Biden should step aside.

"I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election," he wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

CNN commentator Van Jones, who cried for joy when Biden won the 2020 presidential election, offered an emotional plea for the president to step aside.

"I love that guy as a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight, to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that," Jones said. "And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now."

Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.