President Joe Biden’s bid to placate far-left members of his party by extending a moratorium on evictions has, predictably, crumbled following last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring the moratorium unconstitutional. St. Louis-area courts quickly followed with orders for sheriffs to resume evictions of tenants who are long overdue paying their rent. That means the nation is back to square one when it comes to protecting families whose principal breadwinners became financially strapped because of the pandemic.
Biden had declared his unwillingness to extend a previous eviction moratorium because Supreme Court justices made clear they would not uphold any future moratoriums without specific congressional approval. The House failed to act as their summer recess approached, which prompted progressive protesters to stage a round-the-clock vigil on the Capitol steps to draw attention to the millions of people at the brink of homelessness.
It was Congress, not Biden, who failed to respond once the Supreme Court issued its warning. Now, no amount of protests can stop the coming tsunami of evictions. Landlords across the country have been forced for months simply to eat the billions of dollars in costs rung up by their non-paying tenants, and they have justifiably reached the limits of their tolerance.
