The ruling and appeal
U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled Wednesday that the federal eviction moratorium went beyond the CDC’s authority.
“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,” Friedrich wrote in the case’s opinion.
This is not the first time the CDC’s moratorium has been challenged. The judge’s opinion notes that at least six courts have challenged the CDC moratorium in recent months.
Later Wednesday, after the Department of Justice filed an appeal, Friedrich issued a temporary stay, meaning the eviction moratorium remains for now. Yet the judge said the temporary hold on her order should not be mistaken for “a ruling on the merits” of the Department of Justice’s motion for an appeal and instead stayed the order to give the court time to consider the appeal.