The United States Supreme Court removed the moratorium on evictions put forth by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which sought to extend protection for renters who fell behind during the pandemic.
Supreme Court rules CDC did not have authority to extend eviction ban
The highest court in the land judged landlords were suffering “irreparable harm” as a result of the ban on paying rent, ruling that the CDC lacked authority to impose the moratorium under a decades-old federal law the agency had invoked, Bloomberg reported.
“It would be one thing if Congress had specifically authorized the action that the CDC has taken,” the court said in an unsigned opinion. “But that has not happened. It strains credulity to believe that the statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts.”
Must be authorized by Congress
“Congress was on notice that a further extension would almost surely require new legislation, yet it failed to act in the several weeks leading up to the moratorium’s expiration,” the court wrote in its eight-page opinion. “If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it.”
Landlord groups challenging the eviction ban pointed to a statement by Justice Brett Kavanaugh made in June, which left a previous CDC moratorium in place, where he said Congressional authorization would be required for any further extension and he only supported it because it was due to expire July 31, CNN reported.
Biden administration gambled on legal long shot, and money failed to reach renters
The Biden administration extended the previous moratorium knowing it was a legal long shot, with the president saying litigation would give local governments additional time to distribute more than $45 billion in rental assistance to persons in need of assistance.
However, the Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that only $1.7 billion in rental assistance was released last month, with a total distribution so far of $5.1 billion.
Dissent from Biden administration and 3 justices
In a statement on Thursday night, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration was disappointed with the decision and credited the CDC’s eviction moratoriums for saving lives.
“As a result of this ruling, families will face the painful impact of evictions,” Psaki said, adding that “communities across the country will face greater risk of exposure” to the surging Delta variant.
Three liberal justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
“The public interest strongly favors respecting the CDC’s judgment at this moment, when over 90% of counties are experiencing high transmission rates,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote. “That figure is the highest it has been since at least last winter.”
