Sixth Circuit rules CDC’s eviction ban is unlawful

Cincinnati, Ohio; July 23, 2021: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a lower court decision striking down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium.

Holding that the CDC lacked the statutory authority to ban evictions, the court stated that the government’s reading of the statute “would grant the CDC director near-dictatorial power for the duration of the pandemic, with authority to shut down entire industries as freely as she could ban evictions.”

“From the moment the CDC banned evictions nationwide, Pacific Legal Foundation has maintained that the CDC was acting both unlawfully and unconstitutionally,” said Steve Simpson, a senior attorney at PLF, which is also litigating cases against the CDC moratorium. “The Sixth Circuit has now confirmed that we were correct. It’s gratifying to see courts take their constitutional role seriously even during a pandemic.”

Pacific Legal Foundation filed two lawsuits against the CDC moratorium on behalf of landlords. One,  Skyworks v. CDC, was the first lawsuit in the nation in which a court ruled that the CDC lacked statutory authority to enact the eviction ban.

While the CDC’s eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of the month, today’s ruling reduces the likelihood that the CDC will renew it.