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Pennsylvania Supreme Court tosses challenge to eviction ban

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a challenge to the governor’s statewide moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, leaving in place an order that shields renters from losing their homes for failing to pay rent during the pandemic.

Two months after agreeing to decide the issue, the state’s high court, without explanation, abruptly dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Residential Owners Association and individual landlords that challenged Gov. Tom Wolf’s constitutional authority to prevent evictions of nonpaying tenants.

Housing advocates expressed relief, landlords frustration, while a dissenting justice had harsh words for the majority, which said in Friday’s unsigned, one-line ruling that the court had made a mistake by accepting the case in the first place.

“The Governor took precipitous action that has impaired the business interests and property rights” of thousands of landlords, wrote Justice David Wecht, a Democrat, adding the court should have decided whether Wolf was within his rights to do so.

Like many Democratic and Republican governors and local officials around the U.S., Wolf, a Democrat, imposed a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions to prevent people from losing their homes in the midst of the virus outbreak and widespread joblessness.

Dave Sattizahn, president of the Schuylkill County Volunteer Firefighter's Association, right, announces the cancellation of the 66th annual Schuylkill County Firemen's Convention as Joseph Gilbert Jr., fire chief of the Ringtown Valley Fire and Rescue Company, left, and Capt. Mariana Gorski-Gilbert, the chairperson of the firemen's convention, center, reacts during a press conference at the station in Ringtown, Pa., on Thursday, July 30, 2020. The convention was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fire company was the host of the convention this year. (Jacqueline Dormer/The Republican-Herald via AP)