The United States Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden Administration’s bid to extend the temporary ban on eviction, which was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The court, in the unsigned opinion, added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reimposed the moratorium August 3, lacked the authority to do so under federal law without explicit congressional authorisation.

“If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,” the court wrote in the eight-page opinion.

This ruling comes as about 3.5 million people in the United States said that they faced eviction in the next two months, according to Census Bureau data from early August.

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The three liberal judges dissented. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the three, pointed to the increase in COVID-19 caused by the delta variant as one of the reasons the court should have left the moratorium in place. “The public interest strongly favors respecting the CDC’s judgment at this moment, when over 90% of counties are experiencing high transmission rates,” Breyer wrote.

However, the Supreme Court, that holds a conservative majority, handed the Biden administration its second big loss in the same week. The first was when it effectively allowed the reinstatement of a Trump-era policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearings.

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The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the pace of distribution has increased and nearly a million households have been helped. But only about 11% of the money, just over $5 billion, has been distributed by state and local governments, the department said.

The administration has called on state and local officials to “move more aggressively” in distributing rental assistance funds and urged state and local courts to issue their own moratoriums to “discourage eviction filings” until landlords and tenants have sought the funds.

A handful of states, including California, Maryland and New Jersey, have put in place their own temporary bans on evictions. In a separate order earlier this month, the high court ended some protections for New York residents who had fallen behind on their rents during the pandemic.

The high court hinted strongly in late June that it would take this path if asked again to intervene. At that time, the court allowed an earlier pause on evictions to continue through the end of July.

The administration at first allowed the earlier moratorium to lapse July 31, saying it had no legal authority to allow it to continue. But the CDC issued a new moratorium days later as pressure mounted from lawmakers and others to help vulnerable renters stay in their homes as the coronavirus’ delta variant surged. The moratorium had been scheduled to expire October 3.

With inputs from the Associated Press