Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY) released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s shadow docket decision to terminate the federal eviction moratorium:

“The Supreme Court’s shadow docket decision to strike down the CDC’s eviction moratorium is as dangerous as it is logically and morally bankrupt.

For the last year and a half, the eviction moratorium has kept as many as 11 million Americans struggling to pay rent safe and housed amid the worst public health and economic crises in a century. As the Delta variant continues to ravage our nation, striking down the moratorium will lead to unnecessary death and suffering—particularly in communities of color, which bear the brunt of the housing crisis.

We fought to extend the eviction moratorium to give states time to distribute the more than $46 billion in rental assistance that I helped pass as a member of Congress. The disbursement of these funds by states like New York, which is sitting on over $2 billion in rental assistance, is critical in order for landlords to be made whole. With its decision, the far-right Supreme Court has once again subverted the clear legal authority of the executive branch, instantly putting millions of lives in danger.

This decision is a painful reminder of the reality of a hyper-partisan Supreme Court that is more concerned with protecting special interests than protecting everyday Americans, and the need to restore balance to that Court by expanding it. We need not accept baseless, unsigned rulings issued in the dead of night.

I’ll continue fighting to ensure every person in my district and across the country remains safe and housed for the duration of this pandemic and long after. As I fight to eliminate the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, which is a roadblock to congressional action on a moratorium, the legislature in New York must pass an extension of our state’s own eviction moratorium.”