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On Thursday, August 26, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's new eviction ban. The decision to suspend the moratorium more than five weeks before its October 3 expiration was a win for rental property owners, who have spent nearly a year fighting eviction bans imposed by the Trump and Biden administrations. Two chapters of the National Association of Realtors petitioned the High Court earlier this month to immediately overturn the latest version of the ban issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The court conveyed its decision in an eight-page, unsigned opinion that said the CDC's power to take steps to rein in the coronavirus pandemic did not appear to extend to issuing a moratorium on evictions. The majority said the Biden administration was arguing to give the agency "a breathtaking amount of authority."

"If a federally-imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it," the per curiam opinion said. "It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant. But our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends."

The Court's three Democratic appointees dissented, joining an opinion from Justice Stephen Breyer that argued the ruling was mistaken given the recent exacerbation of the pandemic, changes in the most recent version of the eviction ban and the emergency posture of the case.

"The public interest is not favored by the spread of disease or a court's second-guessing of the CDC's judgment," Breyer wrote. "The public interest strongly favors respecting the CDC's judgment at this moment, when over 90% of counties are experiencing high transmission rates."

The Biden administration imposed the latest ban August 3, after coming under pressure from Democrats and housing advocates in the wake of letting the previous moratorium expire July 31. That moratorium was first issued last September in a bid to protect renters who had lost income during the pandemic.

In response to litigation brought by the Realtors against the earlier ban, the Supreme Court had already signaled that the policy was likely on shaky legal footing.