WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department said on Saturday it would appeal the decision of a judge who found the federal government’s eviction moratorium unconstitutional.
Prosecutors filed a notice of the case on Saturday night, saying the government was appealing the issue to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal comes days after district judge J. Campbell Barker ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded his authority and that the moratorium was illegal.
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“Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, the Constitution also persists,” wrote the judge in Thursday’s decision.
In a statement, Brian Boynton, the acting deputy attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s civil division, said prosecutors respectfully disagreed with the judge’s decision and noted that it applied only to the parties in the case, not widely to others.
In this archival photo of October 14, 2020, real estate activists hold up a sign in front of the home of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker in Swampscott, Massachusetts (AP Photo / Michael Dwyer, Archives)
“The CDC eviction moratorium, which Congress extended last December, protects many renters who are unable to make their monthly payments due to job losses or health care costs,” he said. “By preventing people from becoming homeless or having to move into crowded homes, the moratorium helps to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
The CDC eviction moratorium was signed in September by President Donald Trump and extended by President Joe Biden until March 31.
Barker, who was appointed by Trump in 2018 to serve in the Eastern District of Texas, was unable to issue an injunction in the case. Several homeowners filed the lawsuit arguing that the federal government had no legal authority to prevent evictions.
In the archival photo of this Wednesday, January 13, 2021, tenants’ rights advocates demonstrate outside the JFK federal building in Boston. (AP Photo / Michael Dwyer)
“The federal government cannot say that it has never invoked its power over interstate commerce to impose a moratorium on residential eviction,” wrote Barker. “This did not happen during the deadly Spanish flu pandemic. Nor did it invoke such power during the demands of the Great Depression. The federal government has not claimed such power at any point in our nation’s history until last year.”
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State and local governments approved eviction moratoriums at the beginning of the pandemic for many tenants, but many of these protections have expired.
To be eligible for protection, renters must have an income of $ 198,000 or less for couples filing jointly, or $ 99,000 for individual users; demonstrate that they sought government assistance to pay the rent; declare that they cannot pay because of the difficulties of COVID-19; and say they are likely to be homeless if they are evicted.