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The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is allowing evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. The court’s action ends protections for roughly 3.5 million people in the United States who said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to Census Bureau data from early August. The court said late Thursday in an unsigned opinion that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reimposed the moratorium Aug. 3, lacked the authority to do so under federal law without explicit congressional authorization. (Sherman, 8/26)

In an unsigned opinion released Thursday night, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed that the federal agency did not have the power to order such a ban. “It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant,” the majority’s eight-page opinion said. “But our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends. . . . It is up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether the public interest merits further action here.” (Barnes, Siegel and O'Connell, 8/26)

Congress has approved nearly $50 billion to help people pay back rent and avoid eviction. But while in some states and counties that's been working well, in many others the help hasn't reached the vast majority of renters who need it. By one estimate, 15 states still haven't managed to get even 5% of those federal dollars out the door to renters facing eviction. With the Delta variant of COVID surging in many parts of the country, the CDC issued a more limited eviction moratorium through Oct. 3. (Calamur and Arnold, 8/26)

A U.S. appeals court on Aug. 20 declined to end the CDC moratorium on evictions that was instituted during the pandemic, setting the ban up for a battle before the Supreme Court. But as the legal back-and-forth over the federal evictions ban continues, housing advocates and legal professionals, as well as organizations representing property owners, told PBS NewsHour their clients’ concerns extend well beyond the future of this moratorium. In some counties, judges have declined to enforce the ban and pushed on with evictions amid the pandemic, and rental assistance remains hard to access for both landlords and tenants in some parts of the country. Additionally, the moratorium only covers certain types of evictions, meaning they have continued to occur anyway, even though they are being filed at a lower rate than in years prior to the pandemic. (Vinopal, 8/26)