US Supreme Court ends federal residential eviction moratorium

[WASHINGTON] The US Supreme Court on Thursday ended the pandemic-related federal moratorium on residential evictions imposed by President Joe Biden's administration in a challenge to the policy brought by a coalition of landlords and real estate trade groups.

The justices, who in June had left in place a prior ban that expired at the end of July, granted a request by the challengers to lift the moratorium by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that was to have run until Oct 3.

The challengers argued that the law on which the CDC relied did not allow it to implement the current ban.

"It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts," the court said in an unsigned opinion. The three liberal justices on the nine-justice court dissented.

The high court had signalled in June that it thought the moratorium was on shaky legal ground, and that such a policy needed to be enacted by Congress rather than being imposed unilaterally by the executive branch.

The CDC first issued a moratorium in September 2020 after a prior one approved by Congress expired, with agency officials saying the policy was needed to combat the spread of Covid-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic.

Under political pressure from Mr Biden's fellow Democrats, his administration on Aug 3 implemented a somewhat narrower eviction moratorium three days after the prior one expired.

REUTERS