Los Angeles could be barred from seizing and tossing out items belonging to homeless people based on an object’s size if a federal judge follows through on a tentative decision issued Tuesday.

The preliminary ruling by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer would prohibit Los Angeles from enforcing a city law that bans people from keeping larger items — those that cannot fit into a 60-gallon container — on sidewalks and other public property.

But the city could still confiscate such belongings in “a number of circumstances, including when items are unattended, blocking the sidewalk or a threat to health and safety,” Fischer wrote.

Fischer wrote that a central question in the case is whether the city “can seize or destroy items because they are of a particular size.”

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