Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

The CDC Banned Evictions. Can It Also Decide How We Vote?

Its ban on evictions raises broader questions about the agency’s authority.

September 2, 2020 at 5:30 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

Overkill? Nope. Wisconsin’s April primary turned into a superspreading event.
Photographer: Derek R. Henkle/AFP/Getty Images

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Could the Centers for Disease Control postpone the November election? In light of this week’s CDC action barring evictions nationwide, the question seems worth asking.

Early in the pandemic, Congress enacted a moratorium on evicting tenants who were behind on their rent, but the measure applied only to federally assisted housing and expired in July. Ever since, activists have argued for a new, broader ban on booting struggling families out of their apartments. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced one, via the Centers for Disease Control.