U.S. Federal Judge Rules National Eviction Moratorium Exceeds CDC’s Authority
Posted on 05/05/2021
UPDATED NOTE (May 6, 2021): Judge Dabney Friedrich said she would temporarily allow the moratorium to continue while she considers an emergency request by the Biden administration. The judge called for a defense response next week, and a reply from the government by May 16, 2021.
“The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not,” Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in a 20-page ruling. The ruling finds that the national eviction moratorium, which was scheduled to remain in place until June 30, 2021, should be vacated.
Judge Dabney Friedrich noted that while Congress had ratified earlier extensions of the moratorium order, it had not done so for the latest extension. Numerous landlords have criticized the policy, putting pressure on their finances.
Earlier, a federal judge in Texas ruled the eviction moratorium was unconstitutional. The U.S. government has appealed that decision.
The eviction moratorium was first enacted as part of the first COVID stimulus bill, the CARES Act, signed by then-President Donald Trump in March 2020. The order expired in July 2020 and was followed by the order from the CDC in September 2020. That CDC September order was set to expire at the end of January 2021, but was extended by Joe Biden’s CDC director, Rochelle P. Walensky. The CARES Act included a 120-day eviction moratorium with respect to rental properties that participated in federal assistance programs or were subject to federally-backed loans. Unlike the CARES Act’s moratorium, which only applied to certain federally backed rental properties, the CDC Order applied to all residential properties nationwide. In addition, the CDC Order includes criminal penalties.
The case is Case 1:20-cv-03377-DLF.
ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, et al. (Plaintiffs) v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OFHEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, et al. (Defendants).