Supreme Court blocks ban on evictions
6-3 ruling finds the CDC cannot stop removals on public health grounds
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has ended a national moratorium on evictions in parts of the country ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, removing protections for millions of Americans who have not been able to make rent payments.
A coalition of landlords and real estate trade groups in Alabama and Georgia challenged the latest extension of a moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued Aug. 3 and intended to run through Oct. 3.
On a 6-3 vote announced Thursday night, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed that the ban on evictions should not stand.
“It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant,” said the court’s unsigned opinion. “But our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends...It is up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether the public interest merits further action here.”
The court’s three liberal justices dissented. “The public interest strongly favors respecting the CDC’s judgment at this moment, when over 90 percent of counties are experiencing high transmission rates,” wrote Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
A district judge in the District of Columbia and several other courts around the country, said the powers granted to CDC to protect public health during a pandemic did not include a ban on evictions for those who fell behind on their payments.
But Judge Dabney Friedrich stayed her order so that the administration could appeal.
While the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to leave in place what it called a “lawful and urgently needed response to an unprecedented public emergency,” a majority of justices already had signaled agreement with Friedrich.
Over the objections of the court’s four most conservative justices, the court in June left a previous version of the eviction ban in place, when it was supposed to expire at the end of July. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who cast the deciding vote in that decision, also said he believed any extension of the ban would require explicit congressional action.
Congress did not respond, however, and initially the Biden administration said its hands were tied. After pressure from constituent groups and liberals in Congress, the administration issued a new and slightly narrowed version of the moratorium. But even the president was fatalistic.
“I went ahead and did it,” Biden told reporters. “But here’s the deal: I can’t guarantee you the court won’t rule [that] we don’t have that authority. But at least we’ll have the ability, if we have to appeal, to keep this going for a month at least — I hope longer than that.”
The challengers in their brief to the court used the president’s words to argue that the administration knew it was on unstable legal ground.