Supreme Court blocks Biden administration’s eviction moratorium

The Supreme Court late Thursday blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from enforcing the federal moratorium on evicting renters during the coronavirus pandemic, a defeat for the Biden administration’s effort to continue the moratorium even though the court had signaled that the action lacked the proper legal basis.

The current moratorium, which was imposed in early August, had been due to expire in early October. It was challenged by a group of landlords who argued that the CDC had no authority to impose such a restriction on its own.

They said the country’s landlords have been losing as much as $19 billion a month.

“Congress never gave the CDC the staggering amount of power it claims,” the landlords argued in their filing in the Supreme Court.

In an unsigned opinion, six justices agreed.