Update on CDC Moratorium Litigation

The Alabama case, which has already been up to the Supreme Court of the US once, is at the Court of Appeals DC Circuit. Surprisingly, the Justice Dept agreed to an accelerated briefing schedule with all briefing to be completed by today with a request for the three judge panel to rule today (Thursday). Even more surprising is that they completed the briefing yesterday. So we are waiting on the panel to rule. Whichever party loses, will certainly appeal it to the Supreme Court of the US. The only question with SCOTUS is will Justice Kavanaugh hold to his word that he thinks the CDC moratorium is unlawful unless Congress acts?

Meanwhile in the Fifth Circuit, Pacific Legal Foundation (which is litigating against Seattle’s eviction moratorium) filed for an injunction against the CDC based on SCOTUS’ ruling in the Alabama case.

In addition, Pacific Legal Foundation is fighting the CDC order at the Sixth Circuit. They won the first in the nation ruling that the CDC moratorium was unlawful in their Skyworks case. The government appealed it to the Sixth Circuit. The government asked for a 30 day extension on filing their opening brief. Presumably this is a deliberate delay tactic. PLF argued against the extension and also filed a cross-appeal to clarify that the ruling applies nationwide.

UPDATE 8/25/2021: The Court of Appeals DC Circuit just ruled to keep the stay in place. I suspect there will be a filing with SCOTUS in a matter of hours. The only question will be if Justice Kavanaugh keeps to his word that the CDC moratorium is unlawful without action from Congress.