Theane Evangelis

Los Angeles

Litigation

Theane D. Evangelis is a partner and co-chair of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP's global litigation practice group. A former law clerk for Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, she graduated summa cum laude from New York University School of Law and joined Gibson Dunn in 2007.

Her practice has placed her at the center of major appellate matters in employment, class action and general commercial cases. Her specialties include constitutional law; media, entertainment and technology matters; litigation and crisis management.

In late August, she was filing a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court over one of government's most intractable problems: that of homelessness and how cities can respond to the crisis.

"This is why I went to law school -- working on cases that affect our society," said Evangelis, who is no stranger to the issue. Apart from her litigation efforts, she was appointed recently to the Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness.

Evangelis represents the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, as it appeals controversial federal appellate rulings that the city cannot enforce anti-camping and other ordinances against homeless people when it does not have enough shelters to house them. The rulings cited the cruel and unusual punishments clause of the Eighth Amendment. Johnson et al., v. City of Grants Pass, 20-35752 (9th Cir., en banc denied, filed July 5, 2023).

The vote against en banc rehearing was 14 to 13, with only active judges permitted to participate. A large contingent on the court's conservative wing -- 17 judges, including senior judges -- dissented from or criticized the court's refusal to rehear the decision.

Evangelis said the circuit's decisions are "legally wrong and are only harming the very people they were meant to help."

Her cert petition, filed Aug. 22, asserts that the 9th Circuit's Johnson opinion and an earlier case, Martin v. City of Boise (2019), conflict with the California Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit, which upheld public-camping ordinances.

Evangelis' petition added that the question is unusually important because "the homelessness crisis is an exceptionally difficult public-policy challenge" that courts lack the legal authority and the practical competence to solve by trying to be "homelessness policy czars" superintending major cities' own efforts.

In an interview, Evangelis said, "I've dedicated lots of time over the years trying to work toward a solution for homelessness, and these cases have huge ramifications for cities. The cases create an unworkable system as cities try to address this issue."

--John Roemer