A federal judge vacated the nationwide moratorium on evictions established last year to protect renters who could not pay their rent due to restrictions meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
“The pandemic has triggered difficult policy decisions that have had enormous real-world consequences. The nationwide eviction moratorium is one such decision,” D.C. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, ruled on Wednesday.
EVICTION MORATORIUM: LANDLORDS PAY A PRICE
The Trump administration imposed the eviction moratorium in September using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s quarantine authority. Most recently, the Biden administration said it would remain in effect through June 30. Friedrich concluded that the CDC exceeded its authority by issuing a broad moratorium on all rental property evictions.
“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,” Friedrich wrote in the 20-page opinion.
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The court filing was one of several in the past year involving property owners under financial duress due to the moratorium reached this year to challenge the blanket freeze. For instance, U.S. District Court Judge J. Philip Calabrese in Ohio decided in March that the CDC lacked the legal authority to issue the nationwide freeze. Just two weeks prior, federal Judge J. Campbell Barker in the Eastern District of Texas came to the same conclusion. The Justice Department has launched an appeal to Barker’s ruling.
Friedrich’s ruling on Wednesday does not invalidate bans enacted at state and local levels meant to protect out-of-work renters.
