The Biden administration is facing an expected legal battle after the CDC issued a new moratorium which would continue extending the ban on evictions during the pandemic.

Several landlord groups are suing the administration for what they describe as “the CDC acting in bad faith.” Alabama and Georgia chapters of the National Association of Realtors filed a motion in federal court earlier this month to have the new moratorium blocked.

These are the same groups that went up against the previous CDC-issued moratorium after it was extended four times throughout the year. In their previous effort on June 29th, landlord advocacy groups were met with a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that held the moratorium could continue until it was set to expire at the end of July. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who sided with the liberals in his vote, explained that the moratorium could stand because of its imminent expiration. However, he also argued that the CDC had likely overstepped its power in issuing the moratorium.

“In my view, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Kavanaugh also expressed his agreement with the lower court's decision that the CDC had “exceeded its existing statutory authority” by putting forth the ban in the first place.

As the expiration of the previous moratorium loomed, renters throughout the nation struggled to get access to the billions of dollars set aside in rental aid through the Emergency Rental Assistance program. With this latest CDC-issued moratorium, federal officials hoped the extension would grant renters much-needed time to access those funds.

While House Democrats failed to pass legislation before they went out on August recess, there was mounting pressure from Democrats for Biden to issue either an extension to the moratorium or a new moratorium to help renters stay in their homes. Democrats Cory Bush and AOC went as far as camping out in front of Congress to get their voice heard. Last week, Biden addressed concerns over the expiration of the moratorium, stating “any call for a moratorium based on the Supreme Court’s recent decision is likely to face obstacles.”

After weighing in on protections for renters, the White House seemingly walked back its stance when the CDC issued a new moratorium that would protect the renters who lived in areas where there were high or substantial transmission rates. With the new Delta variant ravaging the country, over 80% of the nation falls under the protection of the new CDC Moratorium.

In a press briefing last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the president's stance on issuing a new moratorium, sharing, "the president would not have supported moving forward if he did not support the legal justification."

This new moratorium, which has been in full effect for over a week now, has many landlords concerned about whether they will ever see their rent payments come through. While renters continue staying in their homes and accruing a backlog of rental payments, it seems unclear what protections landlords will have on their side. With the programs to distribute the government funds facing hurdles in implementation and tenants having a lack of access to information on how to access funds, landlords are concerned about what this means for their properties and financial status. Many of the landlords who have been hit hardest by the moratorium on evictions are mom-and-pop business owners who rely on their rental properties for their retirement and financial needs. In the suit filed against the new moratorium, the landlords point to a new moratorium as being the wrong solution for renter support and that it’s instead a result of a "tidal wave of political pressure."

The landlords point to the previous Supreme Court ruling as reason enough to block the new moratorium. “A majority of the Supreme Court made clear that the eviction moratorium exceeds the CDC’s statutory authority and could not be extended beyond July 31, thus vindicating this court’s first merits ruling," the landlords say. While the White House has not responded to the suit attacking the eviction moratorium, Psaki did defend the new moratorium, sharing with reporters, “This is a narrow, targeted moratorium that is different from the national moratorium,“ Psaki said. “This is not an extension of that.”