Attorneys at The Legal Aid Society celebrated a decision rendered by U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown to deny a motion brought by a real estate trade group and several small landlords to block enforcement of a state law preventing most pandemic-era residential evictions.

The decision found that state laws are not generally susceptible to due process claims. The plaintiffs said that the law limits their ability to file or execute evictions in violation of constitutional due process rights – an argument that was rejected.

Ellen Davidson of The Legal Aid Society helped represent two nonprofits on behalf of local tenants — Housing Court Answers and Make the Road New York — that filed amicus briefs opposing the plaintiffs’ request to block the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act, or CEEFPA.

“The decision really rests on separation of powers,” Davidson told Law360. “When does a court get to sit as a super-legislature and look at the decisions the legislature made and decide whether those were correct or not?”