The Volokh Conspiracy

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Eviction Moratorium

D.C. Circuit Denies Motion to Block CDC Eviction Moratorium (Updated)

Next stop, Supreme Court?

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Last week, a federal district court judge in D.C. refused to block the CDC's current eviction moratorium, noting "the courts hands are tied" given the D.C. Circuit's prior ruling on the subject.

Today, a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit followed suit, unanimously denying the request. The court's brief, unsigned order noted the prior D.C. Circuit ruling and denied the requested relief. The judges on the panel were Nina Pillard, Neomi Rao, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

In all likelihood, the groups challenging the moratorium will now bring their case to the Supreme Court, where it appears at least five justices are skeptical of the CDC's stated authority. Last time around, at least one justice with that view (Justice Kavanaugh) nonetheless voted against providing equitable relief. We will see if he still feels the same way now.

UPDATE: And, sure enough, the Alabama Association of Realtors, et al. have already filed their Emergency Application with the Supreme Court. (I suspect they were ready with this one.)

[Note: I've fixed a really embarrassing typo: "not" instead of "now" in the last paragraph before the update.]