Pottinger v. City of Miami

Cooperating ACLU attorney Benjamin S. Waxman noted that this was a landmark settlement recognizing that the homeless cannot be denied fundamental constitutional rights simply because they are homeless. Waxman felt that the settlement showed the best of what can be achieved when two sides of a dispute work together to find common ground to accomplish a mutual goal. The settlement may serve as a model for how other cities treat the homeless.

On 1 April 1998, the ACLU expanded Torres v. Metropolitan Dade County and City of Miami, a case involving Hispanic men arrested for "loitering for purposes of temporary employment." The ACLU was concerned that police enforcement was directed exclusively at one ethnic group. Andy Kayton, Legal Director of the ACLU of Florida, stated that the Pottinger case is a good model for how these types of cases can be resolved. He hoped that the county and city could discuss the problems involving the Hispanic day laborers in the same way that the problem with the homeless of Miami was discussed and resolved.