WASHINGTON D.C. A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s nationwide moratorium on evictions, a setback for the millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said that while there was no doubt Congress intended to empower the CDC to combat COVID-19 through a range of measures such as quarantines, a moratorium on residential evictions was not among them.
Friedrich cited the plain language of a law called the Public Health Service Act, which governs the federal response to the spread of communicable diseases, even while acknowledging that the pandemic is a serious public health crisis that has presented unprecedented challenges for public health officials and the nation.
By Jonathan Stempel and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s nationwide moratorium on evictions but agreed to put a temporary hold on her ruling as the government seeks to reverse the decision on appeal.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said that although there was no doubt Congress intended to empower the CDC to combat COVID-19 through a range of measures such as quarantines, a moratorium on residential evictions was not among them. The ruling was a setback for millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent payments during the pandemic.
May 5, 2021
A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Wednesday ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its legal authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium, a ruling that could affect millions of struggling Americans.
U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich’s 20-page order says that the protection, first put in place during the coronavirus pandemic under the Trump administration and now set to run out on June 30, goes too far.
“It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic,” the order stated. “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.”
Judge puts hold on ruling voiding U.S. moratorium on evicting renters
By Jonathan Stempel and David Shepardson
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s nationwide moratorium on evictions but agreed to put a temporary hold on her ruling as the government seeks to reverse the decision on appeal.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said that although there was no doubt Congress intended to empower the CDC to combat COVID-19 through a range of measures such as quarantines, a moratorium on residential evictions was not among them. The ruling was a setback for millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent payments during the pandemic.