Federal Judge Tosses CDC's Eviction Moratorium

"A federal judge blocked a nationwide eviction moratorium established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year as Covid-19 lockdowns put millions of renters out of work," report David Yaffe-Bellany and Noah Buhayar.

"U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington said the agency exceeded its authority by issuing a broad moratorium on evictions across all rental properties." The CDC recently extended the moratorium until the end of June.

The U.S Department of Justice has already moved to appeal Friedrich's decision. The U.S. Department of Justice also appealed a February ruling by a federal judge in Texas that also decided that the CDC also exceeded its authority in implementing the moratorium, leading to this week's ruling by Friedrich.

More details on the limits of the authority of both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, as defined by the ruling, are included in the source article.

Additional coverage on the judge's ruling is available from Andrew Ackerman and Brent Kendall for The Wall Street Journal and Connor Perrett for Business Insider.

From Perrett's article: "Data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has indicated that about 15% of renters are behind on monthly payments. In December, that figure was about 19%, Insider's Ayelet Sheffey reported."