Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/21a23_ap6c.pdf
Page Number: 2.0

2 

ALABAMA ASSN. OF REALTORS v. DEPARTMENT 
OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVS. 
Per Curiam 

that  this  statute  grants  the  CDC  the  sweeping  authority 
that it asserts. 

I 
A 
In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Re-
lief, and Economic Security Act to alleviate burdens caused
by the burgeoning COVID–19 pandemic.  Pub. L. 116–136, 
134  Stat.  281.    Among  other  relief  programs,  the  Act  im-
posed  a  120-day  eviction  moratorium  for  properties  that
participated in federal assistance programs or were subject
to federally backed loans.  §4024, id., at 492–494. 

When the eviction moratorium expired in July, Congress
did  not  renew  it.    Concluding  that  further  action  was 
needed, the CDC decided to do what Congress had not.  See 
85 Fed. Reg. 55292 (2020).  The new, administratively im-
posed moratorium went further than its statutory predeces-
sor, covering all residential properties nationwide and im-
posing  criminal  penalties  on  violators.  See  id.,  at  55293, 
55296. 

The CDC’s moratorium was originally slated to expire on 
December 31, 2020.  Id., at 55297.  But Congress extended
it for one month as part of the second COVID–19 relief Act.
See  Consolidated  Appropriations  Act,  2021,  Pub.  L.  116–
260, §502, 134 Stat. 2078–2079.  As the new deadline ap-
proached, the CDC again took matters into its own hands,
extending  its  moratorium  through  March,  then  again
through June, and ultimately through July.  86 Fed. Reg.
8020, 16731, 34010. 

The CDC relied on §361(a) of the Public Health Service
Act  for  authority  to  promulgate  and  extend  the  eviction
moratorium.  See  58  Stat.  703,  as  amended,  42  U. S. C. 
§264(a).  That provision states: 

“The Surgeon General, with the approval of the [Secre-
tary of Health and Human Services], is authorized to 
make and enforce such regulations as in his judgment