(Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday rejected a bid to block a residential eviction moratorium put in place last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), despite raising questions about the new order’s legality.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich on procedural grounds is a win for the Biden administration. She said the realtor groups that sued must go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to challenge the new 60-day CDC moratorium set to expire on Oct. 3. The National Association of Realtors, which is supporting realtor groups in Alabama and Georgia that are among those challenging the moratorium, said in a statement the groups “now plan to return in short order to the D.C. Circuit Court and then again to the Supreme Court if necessary.”
The group added it is “confident in our position that this unlawful eviction ban will soon come to an end.”
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement the administration was “pleased that the district court left the moratorium in place, though we are aware that further proceedings in this case are likely.”
