Emergency file

Supreme Court Tuesday Reject request A group of Alabama real estate agents prevented the federal suspension of evictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Justice Brett Kavanaugh provided a key vote in favor of the suspension, joining Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices of the court. Kavanaugh wrote that although he agreed with the real estate agent that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority when issuing the ban, he still voted to keep the ban because the ban is about to expire.

Tuesday’s ruling is the latest chapter Suspended disputeAfter a similar ban issued by Congress expired, the CDC imposed this measure in September. In May, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled that the moratorium exceeded the power granted to the CDC by Congress. But she shelved her ruling, and the government appealed to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which issued a decision on June 2 to keep Friedrich in place.

Real estate agents went to the Supreme Court on June 3, arguing that “Congress has never given CDC the amazing powers it now claims.” They told the judge that landlords would lose more than $13 billion in unpaid rent each month due to the suspension of payments. . They sought an urgent ruling from the judge to lift the suspension and allow Friedrich’s ruling to take effect.

On behalf of the federal government, acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar urged the judges to lift the suspension order. She believes that the challenger did not make the “extraordinary performance” necessary to overcome the suspension of the lower courts and the respect that the CDC should show in response to the pandemic. In addition, Prelogar wrote, the records in the case did not indicate that if the suspension order still exists, the challenger will be permanently harmed. The suspension only applies to a small number of tenants, who still need to try to pay rent. In addition, Prelogar added that Congress has provided landlords with nearly $50 billion in assistance to cover the cost of the suspension.

The ban was originally scheduled to expire at the end of June, but last Thursday, the CDC extended it to July. In a letter to the court on the same day, Prelogar told the judge that the government had no plans to extend it further.

The court issued a brief, unsigned order on Tuesday night, rejecting the request of the real estate agent. The four conservative judges of the court – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gothatch and Amy Coney Barrett – said they would approve the request and suspend it. time out. Although the justices do not always disclose their votes on emergency relief requests, if the fifth justice votes for them, the real estate agent will have the upper hand, which means that the remaining justices-Roberts , Kavanaugh and Justice Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan-all voted against relief.

Kavanaugh wrote a short agreement explaining his vote. He pointed out that although he agrees that the real estate agent is correct, the suspension plan will end in “only a few weeks” and remain as it is until then “will allow more and more orderly distribution of the rent assistance funds allocated by Congress” By the Ministry of Finance. However, Kavanaugh warned that he believes that “the CDC needs clear and specific congressional authorization (through new legislation) to extend the moratorium beyond July 31.”

This article is Originally published in Howe on the Court.