Supreme Court Blocks Biden Extension Of Eviction Moratorium

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the Biden administration’s efforts to extend the federal moratorium on the eviction of rental tenants that was enacted in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What Happened: The moratorium was created by an executive order signed in August last year by President Donald Trump to protect tenants — who missed monthly rent payments due to pandemic-related financial hardships — from being forced out of their homes. The executive order was designed to end Dec. 31, 2020, but Congress extended it through January and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended it three additional times.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June in a 5-4 decision that the moratorium must expire on July 31, the final date set in the third CDC extension, but the CDC defied the court and renewed the extension earlier this month through Oct. 3.

Related Link: Why Disney Is Planning A 55+ Community In Central Florida

What Happened Next: In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned order that stated, “If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it.

“The CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination,” the ruling added. “It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts.”

However, Congress has yet to take any legislative action to extend the eviction moratorium. The president initially acknowledged the Supreme Court’s June ruling but reversed course and extended the moratorium while admitting the action was “not likely to pass constitutional muster.”

Photo: Marco Verch / Flickr Creative Commons.