Libertarian-minded members of Congress, led by Sen. Rand Paul, have come out against the Trump administration’s eviction moratorium order, calling it illegal and unconstitutional.
The Trump administration announced an eviction moratorium on Tuesday using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s quarantine authority.
The CDC said in an order released Tuesday evening that it would temporarily stop renters from being evicted until the end of 2020.
“CDC does not have the authority to do this. It’s dangerous precedent and bad policy,” said Paul, a Republican from Kentucky who has supported President Trump.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, also a Republican, said that rental contracts are governed by state law and that there is no room for federal authority to overturn them.
“The CDC order is an affront to the rule of law, and an emasculation of every legislator in this country — state and federal,” Massie said on Twitter. He also complained that there was almost no pushback against the order from Democrats or Republicans.
Congress’s only member of the Libertarian Party, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, said on Twitter that the order was not only illegal but also did not make sense economically.
“The unintended consequences will harm the people it’s intended to help. Again, the best form of pandemic relief is direct cash payments to the people,” said Amash.
Rep. Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican, said that although the order was well intentioned, it is unconstitutional. He claimed on Twitter that the CDC order violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution by depriving people of their property without due process of law.
Congress has granted the CDC the power to enforce quarantines at ports and at state lines. In issuing the eviction moratorium, the CDC said that it had the authority to do so based on a section of the law that permits it to enforce a quarantine within a state if it determines that local authorities’ measures aren’t sufficient to stop the spread of disease to other states.