The Department of Justice plans to appeal a court decision that ruled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s temporary eviction moratorium is unconstitutional.
Prosecutors filed a notice on Saturday, saying they plan to appeal the decision by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
BIDEN EXTENDS PANDEMIC MORTGAGE RELIEF PROGRAM UNTIL JUNE 2021
Bryan Boynton, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement that the department “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling.
“The CDC’s eviction moratorium, which Congress extended last December, protects many renters who cannot make their monthly payments due to job loss or health care expenses. By preventing people from becoming homeless or having to move into more-crowded housing, the moratorium helps to slow the spread of COVID-19,” Boynton said.
Barker, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump to the court in the Eastern District of Texas, issued the ruling after a group of landlords and property managers used the CDC in October, asserting the agency was exercising authority the federal government did not have.
The judge stopped short of issuing a preliminary injunction and said he expects the CDC to respect his ruling.
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The CDC issued the moratorium to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The order, which was initially issued by Trump in September, made it a crime for property owners to evict tenants unable to pay rent or get affordable housing.
With congressional approval, President Biden extended those protections to last throughout March.
