A petition to hinder the order of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ban landlords from evicting unpaid tenants during the COVID-19 crisis was turned down by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
With the denial, the moratorium is granted to still be applied until the end of next month.
The moratorium was enforced through the help of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh who combined forces with the three liberals.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, and Niel Gorsuch claimed that they would have provided the permission for the moratorium to be lifted.
Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the moratorium, which was supposed to lose effect Wednesday, was granted the “final” extension until July 31. Wallensky said that the current health crisis has shown a “historic threat to the nation’s public health”. She furthered that “keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of Covid-19.”
Some landlords, joined by personnel from real estate companies requested for the justices to intervene, claiming that the “Congress never gave the CDC the staggering amount of power it now claims.”
The group said the moratorium has led to “over $13 billion in unpaid rent per month.”
Arguing that the moratorium is not covered by any law, the district court has decided against the government. It, however, placed its decision on hold.
The justices were encouraged by Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to permit for the moratorium to be applied for the time being. Prelogar, through court papers, told the justices that the federal law approved the Health and Human Services secretary to “prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases” in states.
The moratorium on residential evictions, she furthered, is “temporary” and is needed as evictions can boost the rise on COVID-19 spread by pushing renters to share shelter or settle being homeless.
