Supreme Court Upholds New York Rent Control Law; Justice Clarence Thomas Offers Hope to Free Market Advocates

The Supreme Court has upheld New York’s rent control laws but left the door open to reviewing the constitutionality of such regimes at a future time.

An apartment complex is seen with the Empire State Building in the background in New York City, on Oct. 18, 2006. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to strike down New York’s rent control system, although an opinion issued by Justice Clarence Thomas raises hopes that the high court might revisit the issue at a later date and eventually side with free market advocates.

The Supreme Court on Feb. 20 turned away two legal challenges by rental property owners to New York’s decades-old rent stabilization regime that one of the appeal petitions called “the most sweeping and onerous rent control provisions the United States has ever seen.”