Supreme Court denies request to lift CDC’s eviction moratorium

Courts U.S. Supreme Court CDC Consumer Finance Covid-19

On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Alabama Association of Realtors et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al. denying a request from a coalition of landlords and realtor groups to lift the federal government’s eviction moratorium. In his concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed that the CDC “exceeded its existing statutory authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium.” However, he explained his vote to deny the request by pointing out that the moratorium is set to expire on July 31 and keeping it in place until then will allow for a “more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance funds.” As previously covered by InfoBytes, on June 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the group’s motion to lift an administrative stay placed by a district court on its own order, in which it had ruled that the CDC’s nationwide eviction moratorium issued in response to the Covid-19 pandemic exceeded the agency’s statutory authority.