A federal judge has struck down the national eviction moratorium, a measure put in place last year by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and extended twice by the Biden administration.

Researchers found that evictions led to hundreds of thousands of additional COVID-19 cases, a discovery that inspired the CDC’s ban. But on Wednesday, Judge Dabney Friedrich said the CDC overstepped its authority. From her ruling:

The Court recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious public health crisis that has presented unprecedented challenges for public health officials and the nation as a whole. The pandemic has triggered difficult policy decisions that have had enormous real-world consequences. The nationwide eviction moratorium is one such decision. It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic. The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.

A federal judge in DC has vacated the CDC's nationwide eviction moratorium (currently set to expire June 30), finding the Public Health Service Act didn't give the agency the power to do something like this on its own https://t.co/6gOvPqtpQm pic.twitter.com/h3kDlQJyl2

— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) May 5, 2021

CNBC provides important context:

Some 1 in 5 renters across the U.S. are behind on their payments amid the coronavirus pandemic, and states are scrambling to disburse more than $45 billion in rental assistance.

Housing advocates have said that the national ban is necessary to stave off an unprecedented displacement of Americans, which could worsen the pandemic just as the country is turning a corner.

The ruling is seen as a win for landlords and property owners who have said the moratorium places an unfair financial burden on them. The nation’s renters owed an estimated $57 billion in back rent in January, according to a Moody’s Analytics report.

At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki said the moratorium prevented 1.55 million evictions in 2020. She added that the Department of Justice would review today’s court ruling.

Individuals states have their own bans on evictions, which might not be impacted by today’s ruling. The federal ban was set to expire in June.

Earlier on Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge said the Biden administration is making billions of dollars available to help renters.