U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Extension of Federal Eviction Moratorium by the CDC

When a federal eviction moratorium law expired in July 2021, Congress didn't renew it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then imposed an administrative moratorium that covered residential properties nationwide through Oct. 3, 2021. The CDC rules also imposed criminal penalties on violators. Realtor associations and rental property managers sued the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), seeking to revoke the CDC moratorium. As an interim measure, they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the CDC moratorium. The Court ruled for the realtors, finding that they were virtually certain to succeed on the merits of their argument that the CDC had exceeded its authority in imposing a nationwide moratorium on tenant evictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC-imposed moratorium intruded into an area that was the particular domain of state law: landlord-tenant relationships. If a federally imposed eviction moratorium was to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it.  Three Justices dissented from the Court's opinion.

Ala. Ass'n of Realtors v. HHS: __ S.Ct. ___, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 3679; 2021 WL 3783142 (US Sup. Ct.; 8/26/21; Per Curiem; Breyer, J [dissenting]; Sotomayor, J [dissenting]; Kagan, J. [dissenting]