The federal ban on evictions imposed last September by the Trump administration and CDC is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Texas has ruled.
The ruling favors a group of Texas landlords and property owners who sued in October to void the ban, contending that the federal government’s executive branch lacks authority to ban evictions.
Judge John Barker agreed, adding in his ruling that Congress also had no power to halt evictions.
“The federal government has not claimed such a power at any point during our nation’s history until last year,” Barker wrote.
The ban crimped landlords’ rights under Texas law, he said.
The ban was due to expire on 1 January but was extended through the month as part of the second stimulus plan passed in December. Upon taking office, President Joe Biden extended the moratorium through March by executive order.
The judge did not enjoin the ban but said he expects the CDC to respect his ruling and rescind the moratorium.
The Biden administration has appealed the ruling.
TRENDPOST: As of mid-January, ten million households were behind on their rent, and 16 million reported little confidence to pay their rent in February, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. We note this and other real-life data to further illustrate the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street… and the true levels of economic despair.
Add this to the ten million unemployed; 2.1 million homeowners who remain 90 or more days past due on their housing payments, according to Black Knight; and the 5.9 percent who are in foreclosure since the COVID War was launched last year. Black Knight also estimates that nearly two million mortgages will be “seriously delinquent” when foreclosure moratoriums on government-backed loans end in June.
