A coalition of real estate groups asked the Supreme Court to block the federal government from enforcing an eviction moratorium that prohibits landlords nationwide from evicting tenants who fail to pay rent during the Covid-19 pandemic, CNN reports.
The current moratorium, put in place last year, is set to expire on June 30.
A district court ruled against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention action in early May, finding the government exceeded its power and was unlawful. The DC Circuit declined to lift the stay.
The Realtor groups asked the justices to step in on an emergency basis.
The federal moratorium “shifted the pandemic’s financial burdens from the nation’s 30 to 40 million renters to its 10 to 11 million landlords – most of whom, like applicants, are individuals and small businesses – resulting in over $13 billion in unpaid rent per month,” the Realtor groups told the Supreme Court in its filing Thursday.
“Congress never gave the CDC the staggering amount of power it now claims,” it said.
Biden extended the eviction moratorium to June 30 in March despite objections from landlords, marking the third time the deadline for lifting the ban has been pushed back.
The moratorium first went into effect last September and initially was set to expire at the end of 2020. Then in December, the protection was extended until January 31. As one of Biden’s first acts in office,
The original eviction ban was approved by lawmakers as part of a massive coronavirus relief bill in March 2020.