‘Serious Constitutional Concerns’: Realtor Group Sues Biden Administration Over Eviction Moratorium

A realtor association is filing suit against the Biden administration over its eviction moratorium.

As The Daily Wire reported on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order preventing landlords from evicting their tenants — a policy originally passed by the Trump administration under the guise of stopping the spread of COVID-19. According to the agency, a person violating the order “may be subject to a fine of no more than $100,000 or one year in jail, or both, if the violation does not result in a death, or a fine of no more than $250,000 or one year in jail, or both if the violation results in a death.”

In response, the Alabama Association of Realtors argued in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Department of Health and Human Services that the CDC’s order suspends the rule of law:

The CDC caved to the political pressure by extending the moratorium, without providing any legal basis. In substance and effect, the CDC’s latest action is an extension of the same unlawful ban on evictions that has been in effect since September 2020. 

The group also asserted that the CDC’s decision was attributable to political reasons:

The Supreme Court ruled that only the Legislative Branch — not the Executive — had authority to extend the moratorium. Critically, the CDC knew that the White House had repeatedly stated that new legislation was necessary to extend the moratorium, given the absence of executive legal authority. Congress tried, but failed, to enact a legislative extension in reliance on those representations. Yet rather than accept that as the final word under our constitutional system (which the White House initially appeared to do), the CDC extended the moratorium anyway. 

And the CDC did so for nakedly political reasons — to ease the political pressure, shift the blame to the courts for ending the moratorium, and use litigation delays to achieve a policy objective. The Court should block the August 3 extension on an expedited basis to relieve the nation’s property owners of the burden of complying with this unlawful agency action.

The suit noted that the United States District Court for the District of Columbia explained in May that granting an unlimited amount of legislative power to the CDC would “raise serious constitutional concerns,” including the legality of “such a broad delegation of power unbounded by clear limitations or principles.”