Federal appeals court upholds CDC's eviction moratorium
20 August 2021
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia left in place the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-related eviction moratorium on Friday.
Why it matters: Alabama and Georgia realtors will likely appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, which declined to lift the ban in June but signaled that it would not tolerate another extension.
- Justice Kavanaugh said in June that he believed that the CDC exceeded its authority in enacting the moratorium and that congressional authorization would be necessary for the CDC to extend it.
The big picture: President Biden let an earlier moratorium lapse, fearing an extension would be struck down in the courts.
- The CDC issued a new moratorium in early August after progressive lawmakers pressured the White House to act unilaterally amid a COVID surge driven by the Delta variant.
Federal judges so far have kept the ban alive.
- U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich denied the landlords' request to pause the moratorium last week despite her belief that the policy is illegal.
- While Biden's new moratorium wasn't technically an extension, Friedrich said it should be considered one.
Read the ruling:
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.