President Biden’s Lawless Eviction Ban

Where’s the uproar about the erosion of democratic norms?

WSJ editorial. Excerpt:

"The CDC’s original eviction ban, issued last September under President Trump, was extensively litigated before it expired on July 31. Five federal courts, including an appellate panel at the Sixth Circuit, ruled against it. A few courts went the other way, saying that landlords hadn’t met the burden required for a preliminary injunction. But the judicial score was lopsided against the moratorium.

In justifying the ban, the government cited the Public Health Service Act of 1944. To halt disease, that law says the CDC may require “inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination,” and so forth, with a final catchall phrase for “other measures.” The feds argued this was enough legal authority. But the gap between “fumigation” and “other measures” isn’t big enough for the government to shove in a ban that applies to nearly every residence in America, punishable by a year in jail.

“That reading,” the Sixth Circuit said, “would grant the CDC director near-dictatorial power for the duration of the pandemic, with authority to shut down entire industries as freely as she could ban evictions.” Maybe the CDC could mandate vaccines or prohibit layoffs nationwide. There’s no limiting principle."