A federal judge in Texas ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s temporary moratorium on evictions is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge John Barker said on Thursday that he expects the CDC to respect his ruling and withdraw its moratorium but stopped short of issuing a preliminary injunction.
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“Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, so does the Constitution,” Barker wrote in a 21-page ruling, which came after a group of landlords and property managers sued the CDC in October.
The plaintiffs believed the agency was exercising authority the federal government did not have, using the pandemic as a shield. They were represented by two conservative legal groups, including the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Southeastern Legal Foundation.
“The CDC attempted to use COVID-19 as an opportunity to grab power and the court rightfully corrected this egregious overreach,” Robert Henneke, general counsel for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told CNN.
Barker, appointed by former President Donald Trump to the court in the Eastern District of Texas, also ruled that Congress has no authority to grant the CDC the power to halt evictions nationwide, saying the moratorium undermines the rights of landlords under state law.
The CDC issued the moratorium to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus by keeping people in their homes during the pandemic.
The order, initially issued by Trump last September, made it a crime for property owners to evict tenants unable to pay rent and pursue affordable housing options.
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President Biden extended the protections, which were set to expire at the end of January, with the additional approval of Congress.
Biden set the new deadline to last through March, but it is unclear where it will stand under Barker’s order. The Justice Department can appeal but did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on whether it would plan to do so.
