(PresidentialInsider.com)- On Thursday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked part of the fresh eviction moratorium that was unconstitutionally issued by the Centers for Disease Control. The new moratorium stops landlords from evicting tenants who do not pay their rent, but only if they live in an area where the COVID-19 transmission rate is considered high.
The fresh Supreme Court order lifted part of the New York policy which related to a landlord’s ability to challenge a tenant’s self-certified claim of struggling with financial hardship. It means that, at least temporarily, landlords may have some recourse to challenge tenants who claim that they are struggling financial hardship – and therefore cannot pay – if that may not actually be the case.
The unsigned court order is now expected to remain in place while the entire case plays out in a New York federal appeals court. According to the majority opinion, the policy of refusing landlords the right to challenge self-certified claims of hardship was an infringement on landlords’ due process rights to a hearing when a tenant claims they cannot pay.
Specifically, it said that the Due Process Clause said that “no man can be a judge in his own case.”
The decision was made after five property owners in New York filed an application to the court alongside a landlords’ association. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who routinely handles emergency matters like these, referred the issue to the rest of the court. Sotomayor joined Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, all liberals, in dissenting from the majority opinion – proving once again that liberal justices are willing to diverge from the Constitution if they believe it is in the interests of their political cause.
We will report back when a final decision is made.
