Landlords aim to block Biden’s new eviction moratorium in appeals court

(CNN)Landlord groups challenging the Biden administration’s eviction moratorium are now turning to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to try to block the extension of the moratorium.

After a district judge’s decision Friday allowed the moratorium to remain in place, the landlord groups filed a request Saturday evening asking the DC Circuit Court to reverse a June order, from an earlier phase in the litigation, that has let the moratorium continue.

According to the filing, the government has agreed to a quick briefing schedule, and the parties are asking for a ruling from the appellate court by Thursday. The court later Saturday evening approved the briefing schedule — under which the government will respond to the landlords’ request by Tuesday morning and the landlords will reply by Wednesday morning — but that is no guarantee that the appellate court will decide by Thursday.

In Friday’s filing, the landlords pointed to how the Supreme Court handled the moratorium when it reached the justices at an earlier stage in the litigation in June. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to let it continue, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the swing vote in favor of the moratorium, indicated at the time he would not uphold it if it was extended again past July 31.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s move in June, top Biden administration officials said the court was unlikely to uphold another extension of the moratorium. But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ultimately reissued a slightly narrower version of the moratorium in early August, as political pressure built on the administration in the face of congressional inaction.