 |
| President Joe Biden |
That moratorium forbids property owners from retaking possession of their properties away from delinquent tenants, even if owners comply with state landlord-tenant laws.
Today,
the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a petition with
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to rehear en
banc the Brown, et al. v. CDC, et al. case.
 |
| Justice Clarence Thomas |
The majority did not reach the statutory authority question, instead deciding the case on the theory that NCLA’s clients did not demonstrate irreparable harm.
Supreme
Court precedent and the Eleventh Circuit’s own precedent compel the Court to
conclude that its equitable powers allow it to enjoin governmental abuses like
the CDC moratorium.
The
unlawful moratorium forces NCLA’s clients to incur substantial costs in
providing free housing to tenants who refuse to pay rent.
 |
| Justice Samuel Alito |
Despite the Eleventh Circuit panel’s 2-1 ruling, CDC’s ongoing and deliberate violation of the housing providers’ constitutional rights does constitute irreparable harm.
Petitioners
have no means to seek damages from CDC and will have no redress for CDC’s
now-deliberate effort to violate their constitutional property rights and
rights to access state court procedures because the panel’s rule limited which
constitutional rights merit injunctive relief.
President Biden
has conceded repeatedly that CDC lacks the power to issue
the eviction moratorium. On August 3, the day CDC extended its moratorium,
President Biden spoke candidly
about the issue, saying, “the courts made it clear that the existing moratorium
was not constitutional; it wouldn’t stand.”
 |
| Justice Neil Gorsuch |
The Supreme Court has also weighed in against the CDC eviction moratorium. After denying the application to vacate a stay in another lawsuit, five members of the Court espoused the view that the CDC Order was unlawful.
Justices
Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett would have granted
the application. Justice Kavanaugh concurred in the denial of temporary
relief but explained that he agreed that the CDC “exceeded its existing
statutory authority” and that any further extension would require Congressional
action.
Congress tried and failed to extend the
moratorium, so CDC extended it anyway—once again without statutory
authorization.
 |
| Justice Amy Coney Barrett |
NCLA released the following statement:
“No one, not even the
President who oversees the CDC, thinks that the agency has the power to keep
property owners from retaking possession of their own homes.
"Yet the Eleventh Circuit passed the
buck because of the limited term of the moratorium. This hesitance only
emboldened the agency and the President to extend the order yet again.
 |
| Justice Kavanaugh |
— Caleb Kruckenberg, Litigation
Counsel, NCLA
For more information, please visit the
case page here.
ABOUT
NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan,
nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional
freedoms from violations by the Administrative State.
 |
| Caleb Kruckenberg |
NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.
CONTACT:
202-869-5218
