WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down the nationwide halt on evictions, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority to help millions of renting Americans who were pushed out of work with the outbreak of Covid-19.
“It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic,” U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich wrote. “The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.”
The lawsuit was brought by a group of realtors and property owners in Alabama who say that they are experiencing increasing financial burdens from tenants who haven’t paid rent in over a year.