ORLANDO, Fla. — For the second time in less than two weeks, a federal judge has ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority in implementing a national eviction moratorium, the Associated Press reports.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese of Ohio wrote that “the eviction moratorium in the CDC’s orders exceeds the statutory authority Congress gave the agency.”

Although Calabrese ruled in favor of the landlord plaintiffs, he did not grant an injunction, which would have stopped the agency from being able to enforce the moratorium until its current expiration date of March 31.

The lack of such an injunction likens the Ohio ruling to a similar ruling made less than two weeks ago by a federal judge in Texas. 

In that decision, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker ruled in favor of the landlord groups filing suit against the CDC but declined to issue an injunction that would actually stop enforcement of the moratorium. Two days after that Texas ruling, the U.S. Department of Justice moved quickly to appeal the decision. 

In a statement released Friday, the Department of Justice said it "respectfully disagrees with the March 10 decision of the district court in Skyworks v. CDC concluding that the moratorium exceeds CDC’s statutory authority to protect public health. In the Department’s view, that decision conflicts with the text of the statute, Congress’s ratification of the moratorium, and the rulings of other courts.

Housing advocates expressed concern about the decision.

“This order could immediately result in a flood of evictions of struggling renters resulting in increased spread of, and potentially deaths from, Covid-19,” National Low Income Housing Coalition President Diane Yentel wrote in a statement posted to Twitter.

Charles Gallagher, a Tampa-based real estate attorney, said the court’s choice not to grant an injunction lessens the ruling’s actual impact on the moratorium while it’s still in effect.

“This is a loss for tenants, but not a stinging loss,” Gallagher wrote in an email to Spectrum News.

“Declaring that the CDC mortarium (is) invalid is the relief, not an injunction to stay its current application within the court’s jurisdiction,” Gallagher wrote.

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.