The Supreme Court granted a request from landlords in New York on Thursday to halt the state from enforcing its moratorium on evicting delinquent tenants put into place due to COVID-19.
The court order prevents the state from allowing tenants to submit a hardship declaration form to escape evictions by declaring lost income or increased expenses due to the coronavirus pandemic. Under the high court’s move, some evictions in the state will resume.
“This scheme violates the Court’s longstanding teaching that ordinarily ‘no man can be a judge in his own case’ consistent with the Due Process Clause,” the order read.
The high court’s three Democratic appointees disagreed with the majority’s move granting the injunction for part of the state’s evictions ban. There’s still a state law readily available to tenants, allowing them to cite COVID-19 hardships as a defense in court to eviction proceedings.
In a dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the court should not have second-guessed the New York legislature’s decision.
“The New York legislature is responsible for responding to a grave and unpredictable public health crisis. It must combat the spread of a virulent disease, mitigate the financial suffering caused by business closures, and minimize the number of unnecessary evictions,” he wrote.
New York Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is set to replace Gov. Andrew Cuomo upon his resignation later this month, said on Thursday she would work with the legislature to address the Supreme Court’s decision, The Associated Press reported.
Ms. Hochul also said she would “help get the funding available to those in need as soon as possible.”
Last month, the landlords told the justices their constitutional rights are being infringed since they are unable to take tenants who refuse to pay rent to court, and are forced to communicate the government’s message about eviction protections.
“This law runs roughshod over property owners’ constitutional rights to procedural due process and free speech, and it should be immediately enjoined — especially since Governor Cuomo has lifted virtually all other pandemic-related restrictions and formally declared an end to the state’s COVID-19 ‘state of emergency,’ ” read their court filing.
Mr. Cuomo banned landlords from evicting nonpaying tenants last March during the height of the pandemic, and the eviction moratorium in the state has remained in place. It was set to expire on Aug. 31.
The law requires a tenant to show an unsworn “hardship declaration,” which can then block the evictions process.
Though the district court found the landlords had been devastated by the law, it did not halt its enforcement. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit also declined to block enforcement, prompting the landlords to go to the high court.
One landlord, according to court documents, is now homeless as a result of the state law.
In June, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to leave the federal government’s eviction moratorium in place. But Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, though he voted with the majority leaving the moratorium intact until July 31, said he thought the government had reached too far.
In the order, Justice Kavanaugh said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would need congressional authority to extend the moratorium beyond July 31, when it is expected to expire on Saturday.
He said he did not move to strike down the moratorium immediately because “those few weeks will allow for additional and more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance funds.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Justice Clarence Thomas would have voted to strike down the ban on evictions immediately.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had extended the federal government’s eviction moratorium for another 30 days earlier this year. It was at least the fourth time the government has agreed to an extension. The ban was scheduled to expire June 30, but will now run through July 31.
Due to the spread of the delta variant, the CDC has now moved to further extend its ban on evictions, but landlords have gone to court to challenge that move. The case is pending at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The eviction moratorium prevents landlords from evicting tenants while the order is enforced, so landlords are unable to remove a renter who can’t pay rent.
The moratorium was first issued in September under former President Trump, but the government has continued to renew it during the following months, even after vaccines have been widely distributed.
Property owners across the country, including struggling mom-and-pop operators, have been asking the nation’s courts why landlords are expected to take a financial hit while non-paying tenants are protected by eviction moratoriums.
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