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WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department said on Saturday it would appeal a judge’s ruling that found the federal government’s moratorium on evictions unconstitutional.
Prosecutors filed a notice in the case on Saturday night, saying the government is appealing the case to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal comes days after U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevented had overstepped their authority and that the moratorium was illegal.
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“Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, the Constitution persists,” the judge wrote in Thursday’s ruling.
In a statement, Brian Boynton, the acting deputy attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s civil division, said prosecutors respectfully disagreed with the judge’s ruling and noted that it only applied to ‘to the parties to the case, not largely to others.
In this October 14, 2020 file photo, housing activists erect a sign outside the home of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker in Swampscott, Mass. (AP Photo / Michael Dwyer, File)
“The CDC’s eviction moratorium, which Congress extended last December, protects many tenants who cannot make their monthly payments due to job loss or health care expenses,” he said. declared. “By preventing people from becoming homeless or having to move into more crowded housing, the moratorium is helping to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
The moratorium on CDC evictions was signed in September by President Donald Trump and extended by President Joe Biden until March 31.
Barker, who was appointed by Trump in 2018 to serve in the Eastern District of Texas, stopped before issuing an injunction in the case. Several landowners had taken legal action arguing that the federal government did not have the legal power to stop evictions.
In this file photo from Wednesday, Jan.13, 2021, tenant advocates protest outside the Federal JFK Building in Boston. (AP Photo / Michael Dwyer)
“The federal government cannot say that it has never before invoked its power over interstate commerce to impose a moratorium on residential evictions,” Barker wrote. “He did not do so during the deadly Spanish influenza pandemic. He also did not invoke such power during the demands of the Great Depression. The federal government did not claim such power at any time in l history of our nation until last year. “
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State and local governments had approved moratoriums on evictions at the start of the pandemic for many tenants, but many of those protections have already expired.
To be eligible for coverage, renters must have income of $ 198,000 or less for couples filing jointly, or $ 99,000 for single filers; demonstrate that they have requested government assistance to pay the rent; say they cannot pay due to the hardships of COVID-19; and claim that they risk becoming homeless if they are evicted.
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