Federal judge vacates the CDC's temporary nationwide ban on evictions, tens of thousands targeted

[bigtree]

John Kruzel @johnkruzel 20m
BREAKING: Federal judge vacates the CDC's temporary nationwide ban on evictions. Ruling comes as landlords seek to throw tens of thousands of cash-strapped renters from their homes amid the pandemic

Link to tweet

earlier this week:

May 3 - CDC Extends National Ban On Evictions Through The End Of June
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendarichardson/2021/03/29/cdc-extends-national-ban-on-evictions-through-the-end-of-june

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. Can this be appealed..I surely hope so..this is a very wrong decision..

Shaking head..so sad..

[Ocelot II]

5. Yes, it's a district court decision, can be appealed to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

[FBaggins]

10. Where the ruling will almost certainly be upheld

This isn't the first court to rule that the CDC lacked the authority to make the order. The DC circuit is unlikely to change that - particularly in light of the court above them.

But that's ok... since the order has largely served its purpose.

[Ocelot II]

13. True. Holding that that agency didn't have the authority to make the order

isn't the same as holding that it's a good thing for landlords to evict people. I haven't seen the memorandum accompanying the order but the DC Circuit judges are generally pretty solid. The CDC probably didn't have the legal authority to issue that order, but HUD or some other agency relating to housing might. Federal agencies are pretty constrained by their enabling statutes and the Code of Federal Regulations governing them.

[Progressive Lawyer]

19. The DOJ has filed a notice of appeal in this matter.

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[asiliveandbreathe]

20. Thank you for posting the appeal info..

[ananda]

2. This is terrible!

God I hate the court sometimes.

[Hortensis]

3. Wow. I think some states and cities have their own bans, but still...

GA does not have its own eviction ban, but apparently courts have some discretion in deciding whether eviction should proceed. Those that make it to court.

We all know the plight of renters who simply can't pay.

But for others there are plusses, like for owners in trouble because the rents they need to live on stopped -- while the wear and tear of occupancy continued -- and for owners who wanted to rent but weren't able to.

Renters who could pay but didn't will also have an end to their free ride; there are always some of those, and at least now owners can get them out.

[dalton99a]

4. Meanwhile, housing prices are going through the roof

[onecaliberal]

6. More pro life policy from republicans?

[FBaggins]

8. No surprise here. This is the 4th or 5th court to so rule

Including at least one appellate court.

There was never a good reason to believe that the CDC had the authority to make such an order in the first place.

[Bayard]

12. I can understand that more,

But I would think Dept. of Health & Human Services would have that authority.

I also thought the ban was included in the Covid relief bill.

[FBaggins]

14. Part of it was included in the CARES act

But that expired in July and was limited in scope.

Most of the remaining valid moratoria are state/local rules.

[bigtree]

16. only three that I know of disagreed with the administration

...all three Trump appointees.

Friedrich, a Donald Trump appointee, isn’t the first judge to weigh in on the CDC moratorium.

In February, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce under the Constitution doesn’t give it the right to impose a moratorium on evictions. The U.S. appealed, arguing that the decision did not extend beyond the particular plaintiffs in that case.

In Ohio, U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese ruled last month that neither Congress nor federal law gave the CDC the authority to ban evictions, even though the agency had sought to help renters “struggling as so many are with the economic fallout” of the Covid pandemic.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-04/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-reintroduces-curbs-as-cases-surge

[FBaggins]

18. It isn't limited to just Trump appointees

The 6th Circuit slapped the CDC down pretty hard on this same topic and with similar rationale

The 6th leans pretty hard right in general, but they aren't all Trump appointees. There hasn't been any expressed desire from the Democratic judges to rehear the decision

https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/21a0074p-06.pdf

As I hinted above. I don't think that anyone really thought that the CDC had this power. It was just a case of trying to do the right thing and hoping that the worst of the pandemic was largely over by the time the courts could smack them down.

[PSPS]

9. trump-appointed Dabney Friedrich was the judge.

"Trump nominated Friedrich to the D.C. federal bench in June after Republicans prevented Obama’s choice from taking the seat during the blockade they put up against judicial nominees in the last year of his term."

[dalton99a]

11. +1

[Johnny2X2X]

15. This can't last forever.

UE will certainly be under 6% in the new report Friday, if it heads to 5.5% or so, we're basically near averages.

People get evicted all of the time, over the last year we've done a ton to help those people, more than ever before. I hate the idea of people losing their homes, but there are many many landlords losing their businesses because they can't collect rent right now.

Here's the thing I wish we would have seen more of, but it was likely very very rare. People who were laid off and collecting UE and also not paying rent should have been saving a ton of money up. They've had 13 months of UE, 3 big stimulus checks, and an eviction ban, they should have several grand in the bank right now to either square their rent bill or rent a new place.

Know a couple who lost their house because they stopped paying the mortgage, they had 18 months of not paying before they were moved out. They knew it was coming, you'd have thought that after the point of no return they would have been putting money in the back because they were saving by not paying their mortgage, but you'd be wrong. When the sheriff came to put them out, they had no money for even a U-Haul and a storage unit.

You can't ban evictions forever.

[bigtree]

17. the administration wasn't arguing for a permanent moratorium

...they just asked for an extention until June.

The judge takes no responsibility for the health and safety concerns of the CDC. This was a measure by the agency to help limit the spread of Covid, not primarily an economic initiative, by giving states more time to distribute CARE ACT dollars aimed at preventing evictions during the public health crisis.

[Calculating]

21. We're close to having more than enough vaccines for everyone who wants one

Fear of covid is no longer an excuse not to get a job, it's time for people to get back to work and pay the rent. How are eviction moratoriums fair for landlords?

[bigtree]

24. you're supposing that there's employment available

...and your claims completely disregard the economic devastation that's occurred in many regions of the country, both businesses and individuals.

That's not to mention that the infection rate in many states is still unacceptably high, and the vaccination rate isn't anywhere near the point where it can be assumed to be safe enough everywhere, for everyone.

Besides, the CDC didn't implement the moratorium because of economic reasons. They intended to limit the spread of the virus into shelters and elsewhere the homeless are accommodated.

The rate of foreclosures should be enough of a clue that some kind of assistance is necessary to stem a coming tide of debt and homelessness as a result, frankly, of the last administration's negligence. To suppose that we've overcome all of that in a few short months is worse than wishful thinking.

And, I have to say, people insisting that continued fear of Covid is irrational, and unemployment is a choice must have little to nothing at risk, or to lose, with adequate resources and opportunities to make their own lives comfortable and safe. That hasn't been the case with most Americans, even before the nationwide pandemic hit.

[mvd]

25. Bravo

Great post! My feelings exactly.

[MichMan]

22. Why didn't the CDC also order that state and local governments have a property tax moratorium too?

[SYFROYH]

23. I thought we were paying landlords now?

We really should.

I used to rent out my old condo because it was upside down after the 2008 crash and it never fully recovered.

I was renting it out to pay the mortgage and monthly HOA fee and had $25 left over.

It was all kind of low end, but it was a decent first place for me.

If I didn't receive rent for more than 3 months, I couldn't pay the mortgage and it would have been foreclosed.