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CHICAGO (Aug 12, 2021) — Today Illinois property owners filed a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) latest illegal eviction ban. While the Biden Administration claims the eviction ban provides relief to struggling Americans, it does so by passing on hardships to other Americans—property owners. The Illinois Rental Property Owners Association and two individual rental property owners are suing to end the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional moratorium with help from attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center, a national public-interest law firm.
“The Biden Administration’s moratorium violates the property rights guaranteed to Americans by the U.S. Constitution,” said Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. “This new order is blatant government overreach in direct defiance of recent guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. We are filing this case to end the lawlessness and restore this basic constitutional right.”
The Liberty Justice Center is representing Syed Rahman, a rental property owner who immigrated to the U.S. in 2010 and invested his retirement savings into properties in DuPage and Will Counties. He is joined by Mark Weyermuller, a shareholder in companies providing housing for about 200 tenants in Chicago, and the Illinois Property Rental Owners Association (IPROA). IRPOA is a non-profit trade association representing thousands of property owners across Illinois.
“I immigrated to the United States in the hopes of achieving the American dream only to have my constitutional rights stripped away by this illegal ban,” said Syed Rahman, a rental property owner and retiree. “I invested my pension in properties to support myself and my family during retirement. I understand that times are hard, and I always try to work with people who are struggling. However, this blanket eviction ban from Washington goes too far.”
The CDC has limited powers under the Public Health Services Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (based in Cincinnati, Ohio), and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia have both already ruled that previous iterations of the eviction moratorium exceeded the CDC’s lawful powers, and a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated its agreement. Nevertheless, the Biden Administration pushed forward with this new order, which property owners are now challenging under this established body of precedent. One version or another of the moratorium has been in place since March 2020.
Case filings can be found here: Rahman v. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Complaint, Aug 12, 2021
Press Release, Aug 12, 2021