President Joe Biden is under fire for comments about the constitutionality of the eviction moratorium, after he bucked the Supreme Court's deadline of July 31. Biden caved to progressives who asked him to extend the moratorium after Congress failed to legislate an extension.
"I can't guarantee you the court won’t rule that we don't have that authority but at least we'll have the ability to, if we have to appeal, to keep this going for a month-at least. I hope longer,” Biden said in response to a question about the moratorium’s constitutionality:
Why is the eviction moratorium constitutional, I asked the president. Biden told me "I can't guarantee you the court won’t rule that we don't have that authority but at least we'll have the ability to, if we have to appeal, to keep this going for a month-at least. I hope longer." pic.twitter.com/sBTOLmbPDV
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 5, 2021
The president’s comments received immediate blowback, and one Republican congressman argued that Biden’s take could be impeachable. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said that Congress should “demand answers” and potentially weigh impeachment.
Edit: it is absolutely impeachable, sane or not. In a sane world, Congress would act immediately to demand answers. Same with the border. And then impeach if (when?) not answered. #ImpeachBiden (& #ImpeachMayorkas). https://t.co/qk4FFvqR8p
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) August 6, 2021
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the administration felt there was "legal standing and legal support" for the move, despite the Supreme Court's view that the moratorium should have expired on July 31.
Just after the White House was claiming that extending the eviction moratorium was unconstitutional, Jen Psaki now says that Biden "would not have supported moving forward with any action where he didn't feel there was legal standing and legal support." pic.twitter.com/cbgjA04NUr
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 4, 2021