WASHINGTON—A federal judge on Monday questioned the legality of the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium, but also expressed uncertainty about whether she has the authority to block it.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington held a brief morning hearing to consider an emergency request by a group of property managers and Realtors to block the latest eviction ban, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopted on Aug. 3.
Judge Friedrich ruled in May that the CDC didn’t have the legal authority to issue the previous nationwide moratorium that expired in July, but her ruling never went into effect because of continued litigation.
The judge noted that the appeals court above her, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, said in June that it believed the federal government had strong arguments in defense of the moratorium.
“Why are my hands not tied in light of the D.C. Circuit opinion?” the judge asked a lawyer for the plaintiffs challenging the eviction ban. She said she hoped to issue a ruling on the new emergency challenge in the near future.
