Supreme Court leaves CDC moratorium on evictions: NPR

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US Supreme Court Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press withholding comment

Toggle caption Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press

US Supreme Court

Jose Luis Magana/AFP

On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court refused to lift a ban on evictions of tenants who failed to pay all or some of their rents during the coronavirus pandemic.

By 5-4 votes, the court left a nationwide moratorium on evictions set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which the Alabama Association of Realtors has challenged.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who cast his fifth and decisive vote, wrote in a concurring opinion that he voted not to end the eviction program only because it was due to end on July 31, “and because those few weeks would allow for more regulation and a more regular distribution” of funds appropriated by Congress To provide rental assistance to those in need due to the pandemic. But he added that in his view, Congress would have to pass new and clearer legislation to extend the freeze beyond July 31.

The Biden administration said it had no plans to extend the freeze any further.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan also voted not to change the program until July 31.

Dissenters included judges Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Connie Barrett. They would have prevented the moratorium from continuing for another month.

The decision comes at a time when nearly 7 million American families say they are still behind on their rent payments. Many suffered job losses during the pandemic. The delay has prevented more than $46 billion in rental assistance approved by Congress from reaching the many people facing eviction who need it.

Housing groups warn that pulling the CDC’s eviction protections away from people before congressional aid reached them would lead to a wave of avoidable evictions.

Evictions often send families into a downward financial spiral. It can be very difficult to find another place to live with an eviction on your record. People can end up living in their cars or motels when they can afford them, or in homeless shelters. Research has found that there is also a mixed effect on people of color.

During the pandemic, public health experts have warned — and research has shown — that evictions are leading to more cases of coronavirus because people end up living in more crowded places, where they are more likely to catch or spread disease.

At the start of the pandemic, Congress adopted a limited temporary moratorium on evictions. After the congressional suspension period expired last July, then-President Donald Trump asked the CDC to intervene and issue a new eviction ban, which it did in September. In March, President Biden extended that ban, which was due to expire at the end of June. Then on June 24, the Biden administration notified the Supreme Court that it had extended the moratorium until July 31. She also said that except for an increase in coronavirus cases, “the CDC does not plan to extend the order any further.”

The owners have long argued that the CDC’s order was an overreach and that the agency did not have the ability, in fact, to take control of their property away from them.

A group of landlords in the country challenged the eviction ban, and on May 5, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that the CDC had overstepped its authority. However, the judge blocked her decision from going into effect to give the government time to appeal. On June 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the stay, prompting the landlords to go to the Supreme Court.

The real estate owners said that maintaining the status quo “will prolong the heavy financial burdens borne by real estate owners in light of the freeze over the past nine months.”

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