Supreme Court shoots down Biden's moratorium on tenant evictions in 6-3 vote

• The Supreme Court has struck down Biden's moratorium on tenant evictions.
• The court ruled 6-3 that the CDC had no jurisdiction over eviction moratoriums.
• Conservative justices argued that "if a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it."

In a stunning 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court has struck down Biden's moratorium on tenant evictions.

The moratorium was issued earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said it aimed to address areas with "heightened levels of community transmission in order to respond to recent, unexpected developments in the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rise of the Delta variant."

It was intended "to target specific areas of the country where cases are rapidly increasing, which likely would be exacerbated by mass evictions," the CDC said.

But the court said that the CDC had no authority to issue such a moratorium. In its opinion issued Thursday, the conservative majority said it "strains credulity to believe" that the statute under which the moratorium was imposed - which allows the CDC to take extreme measures to staunch the spread of COVID-19 - "grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts."

Further, they argued, "If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it."

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the dissenting opinion, which was supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayer and Elena Kagan.

In their dissent, the justices argued that an eviction moratorium was actually a more mild measure than imposing a quarantine, which "arguably impose greater restrictions on individuals' rights and state police powers than do limits on evictions."

According to a report from nonprofit research group the Aspen Institute, around 15 million people live in some 6.5 million households that are currently behind in rent.

Biden had acknowledged that it was likely his eviction moratorium would be struck down, but said he was hoping to buy time to allow for the distribution of $46.5 billion in rent assistance money. So far, however, only around $5 billion of those funds has been disbursed, AP reported.

The moratorium was an extension of an earlier moratorium put in place during the Trump administration and was set to expire October 3.

The White House called the Supreme Court decision "disappointing" and called on state and local agencies to "urgently act" to prevent evictions.

Several states and cities have already said they will keep the current eviction moratorium in place.

"California renters will NOT be impacted by this news, the state's eviction moratorium remains in effect. We're focused on ensuring tenants and small landlords get the rent relief they need under California's renter assistance program, the largest in the country," a tweet from the Office of the Governor of California said.

-Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) August 27, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the Supreme Court "a group of right-wing extremists" and said that New York "won't stand for this vile, unjust decision."

-Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) August 27, 2021

Several members of Congress, including Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline and Missouri Rep. Cori Bush voiced disappointment with the ruling. Cicilline said in a tweet that Congress should return to session to vote to extend the moratorium.