A Texas federal judge ruled on Thursday that an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) temporarily suspending evictions in the midst of the pandemic is unconstitutional.
On a 21-page decision, US District Judge John Barker supported a group of property owners and administrators who claimed in a lawsuit that the CDC’s eviction moratorium exceeded the federal government’s constitutional authority.
“Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, the Constitution also persists,” wrote Barker, appointed by Trump.
The CDC order, initially issued by the former President Trump
Donald TrumpDonald Trump Jr. calls Bruce Springsteen’s dropped charges a ‘liberal privilege’. Schiff sees challenges for the intelligence committee, a community in the shadow of Trump. McConnell says he would support Trump as the Republican Party nominee in 2024 MORE in September, it was often a crime for landlords to evict tenants who could not afford rent and had no affordable housing options.
These protections were extended by Congress and, subsequently, under President biden
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But in Thursday’s decision, Barker determined that Congress had no constitutional authority to grant the CDC the power to stop evictions across the country, and said the agency’s order threatened to violate the rights of owners under the law. state.
Conservative groups involved in the litigation welcomed the decision.
“The court order today maintaining the CDC’s interference with private property rights under the veil of COVID-19 serves as a warning to the Biden government that the Constitution limits the government’s power,” said Kimberly Hermann, a lawyer at the Southeastern Legal Foundation, one of the groups that represented the plaintiffs.
The Justice Department lawyers who defended the federal government in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Legal experts expect the case to be appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Texas.
Updated at 19:21