PLF-Cato Joint Litigation Strategy Forum for Administrative State Reform: October 26

Our next roundtable discussion will focus on how litigation challenging the CDC eviction moratorium can inform legal challenges to the forthcoming OSHA vaccine mandate. 

In May, a district court held that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lacked statutory authority to impose an eviction moratorium that covered all residential properties nationwide and established criminal penalties for violations. The district court stayed its order pending appeal, and the Supreme Court initially allowed the stay to remain in place because the CDC announced the moratorium would end in a few weeks. However, after it expired in July, the CDC reimposed a substantially similar moratorium. Then, on August 26, the Supreme Court lifted the stay, effectively ending the eviction moratorium. The Court explained that “if a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it.” Several other challenges to the eviction moratorium were pending at that time. 

In September, President Biden announced the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will develop a rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to either ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require weekly testing for unvaccinated employees. The Biden administration also will require federal contractors to ensure their employees are vaccinated. 

What lessons from the eviction moratorium cases can we apply to challenges to the forthcoming OSHA vaccine mandate? 

Our October 26 program will encourage participation from all attendees. To help facilitate the discussion, we will hear from Brett Shumate of Jones Day, who represented the Alabama Association of Realtors in its successful challenge to the CDC eviction moratorium, and Manesh Rath of Keller and Heckman, an OSHA expert about the most fruitful paths to challenge the OSHA mandate. 

You’re welcome to recommend the program to other attorneys in your firm who share our goals, especially if you are unable to attend yourself.

Please reach out to Gwen Hodge with any questions.